False Confessions, Secret Intentions
by AquaSkye16
Summary: R&R. Tenten's life is topsy turvy, when Sasuke asks her out, Sakura and Neji become envious, Ino and Shikamaru are dating, Temari is envious, and Lee is downright happy because Sakura agreed to go out with him. NejiXTenten
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter One: Tenten's Moods—Sasuke's Behaviors

Tenten stomped through the streets of Konoha, downright irritated. Why was she so irritated? Simple. She had heard nonstop about Lee getting together with that Haruno girl, and she knew that the Haruno girl (Sakura, was it?) was just doing it out of pity, and though she held no real lovey-love, not even slight attraction in that way, to her spandex-wearing teammate, she certainly felt, as a teammate, that that pairing was _not good_. Lee was getting pity-dated, Sakura was unhappy, the world is chaos, there'll be pink haired green-spandex wearing kids running around all over the place and getting in the training fields and in the way of her weapons-throwing. With Lee's "youthful-youthfulness," he was bound to make them multiply fast—one hundred times as fast as any normal human being. And then poor, poor, POOR Sakura will have dozens, hundreds, thousands, MILLIONS of little pink haired green-spandex wearing kids running around. Which means that SHE would probably have to move out and live in solitude somewhere for killing a couple hundred of them.

And that Ino girl had gotten together with her teammate, Shikamaru. Ha, ha. That was laughable. They didn't even get along—Ino was a loud mouth who got angry a lot, and Shikamaru took a lot of naps and stuff. And now that she thought of it, when the Suna girl, Temari, was visiting, she did look rather pissed-off, too. Maybe it was the heat. The heat certainly was sweltering, and Tenten was drenched in sweat. She looked up. There were heat waves. Tenten sighed irritably. Great. LeeXSakuramillions of kids, another troublesome pairing, InoXShikamaru, and HeatAnnoyed Kunoichi.

"**_MAN! MY LIFE SUCKS!_**" Tenten yelled at the sky. Then she looked down. "Wait." She took her hands out of her pockets and started to count her fingers. "No life-threatening illness. No life-threatening or even annoying injuries from combat. Not poor. Training's all right. No love life—only a few annoying boys on my heels. A lot of weapons. The only bad things are my spandex teammates, other people's relationships I should probably just go and forget altogether, and the fact that I never have enough money to go see any new movies and buy new kunai anymore. Never mind, **_I TAKE THAT BACK!_**" she yelled again. "**_MY LIFE IS GREAT! THERE IS A GOD! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!_**"

"What in the world are you screaming about?" Tenten looked at the direction of the voice.

"Oh. Sasuke. Didn't see you there."

"Apparently not." He looked at her. "What're you doing?"

"Counting my blessings, yelling my frustrations, etc. Did you know that Sakura girl got together with Lee? It's annoying. It's like, all he says at training is, 'OH! MY BEAUTIFUL, YOUTHFUL SAKURA!' And yelling her compliments, and Gai isn't better."

"I, uh, see…what about the Hyuga? Isn't he some support? Sane support? I would think, somewhat."

"Neji?!" Tenten said. "Yeah, he's all right. But he's this 'stoic prodigy look' going on. He's not that fun to talk to. You know?"

"Hn." Sasuke looked at her.

"Right. You've got the 'stoic prodigy look' going on, too. Forget I said anything." Tenten turned and started to walk away, whistling. "Now I've gotta think of some way to get those two apart…if I strike Lee with a rabies-infected dog, which I can probably get from Kiba, then it would be so easy…he would be isolated, he would die, problem solved! A couple of them! But then who knows who I'd get on my team…and I've learned to cope with the guy, somewhat—EH!?" Tenten looked beside her where she saw the prodigy Uchiha walking next to her. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm up for a conversation."

"I, uh, okay…" Tenten looked at him and blinked slowly. "Oh. I noticed you always have girls flocking you—what do you think about it? I've tried asking Neji, but he replies with looks. But I think he hates them and wants to kill them, that's the impression I get."

"Huh? Yeah, well, they're annoying…" Sasuke said, and looked away, and his eyebrow twitched. Tenten looked and tried to interpret this. She stopped, put up an arm, and pointed.

"You're in love with the Sakura girl, aren't you?! I mean, you say you have to 'restore your clan' and all that. Wait. Do you mean like, restore your clan's glory, or restore your clan literally, or restore your dead family members, or restore your clan's…weaponry?"

Sasuke looked back at her. "I don't know what I meant. I think that the guy just thought it would be a cool line, like, 'I have two goals in life. To kill Itachi and restore my clan.' Or maybe one wasn't enough. But anyway, no, no, I'm not in love with Sakura. She's a teammate."

"Fine. I'm no therapist, and you don't need therapy unless you're suicidal or something. And I'm not the person to ask about these things, anyway." Tenten began to walk away. "See you later." Sasuke watched her go silently.

Tenten, if anything, was even more angry now that she had talked with that Sasuke dude.

"He could be in complete denial that he loves that girl, but he really does, or he likes her, is attracted to her, or likes her as a teammate, or hates her." Tenten thought. A? B? C? D? D. Oh, yes, definitely.

Now that she thought of it, Sasuke seemed a bit more talkative than Neji. Coincidence? Maybe Neji had something wrong with his vocal cords—never mind, if anyone had anything wrong with the vocal cords, it was that Shikamaru guy, saying, "Hn," and, "troublesome," all the time. Tenten wondered what Ino and Shikamaru were doing. She shuddered at the thought. Of course, she had never been on a date, so she wouldn't now, now, would she?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid adolescence, stupid, stupid, stupid," Tenten whispered harshly to herself as she walked. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" this walk wasn't helping her mood. She perked up immediately. Ichiraku Ramen! Oh, yes, a good bowl of ramen would help now. She walked immediately to the stall and plopped down into a seat.

"One pork ramen, with an egg!" she said immediately. As she waited she looked around the stall. The Naruto guy was sitting a couple seats down, to no surprise, and as she looked to the other side she saw Hyuga Hinata, blushing down into her ramen. Now that she thought about it, ramen would not help the heat, but…oh well! Ramen was good!

"Here it is." The ramen stall owner passed her the bowl. She broke apart her chopsticks and dug in happily. She was halfway through when someone entered the stall and plopped down next to her. Tenten looked over. It was Shikamaru. She slurped up the noodle she was eating as Shikamaru gave in his order and then leaned down on the table, as if asleep. Tenten prodded her with the clean end of her chopstick.

"What are you doing?" she asked plainly. She noticed that Hinata was leaning over slightly and looking timidly in Naruto's direction. The shy Hyuga heiress hadn't touched her bowl.

Shikamaru looked up and cracked an eye at Tenten. He groaned lazily.

"I am sleeping because I am tired."

"Tired? Why are you tired? You're lazier than anyone I've met."

"I am tired because of my…annoying girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? You mean Ino?" Tenten picked up her fishcake and began to eat it.

"Hn…" Shikamaru said, and placed his head on the table again as his ramen was served.

"What's wrong with her?" Tenten looked at him, satisfied he wasn't making any sudden moves, and reached quickly into his bowl and took his fishcake and swallowed it in a single gulp.

"She is…annoying…she's troublesome, more so as a girlfriend. She requires…maintenance."

"Maintenance? Like machine maintenance? Weapons require little maintenance, you know…just clean them once in a while and they look and work good as new."

"Yes. She keeps me up all night, insisting I'm not treating her well enough, and all sorts of troublesome things…I am tired." He lifted his head up, broke apart his chopsticks, picked up a noodle, and ate it.

"I see. So she's one of those types? Never thought you guys were a good couple. Why are you still with her, then?"

"I have no choice. She would be…hurt if I, uh, broke up with her. Not to mention angry. She'd go on a diet, starve herself, then what happens to the Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji team?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, can't help you there. My only solutions would cause the same conclusion, anyway—dead Ino. Or dead Shikamaru. Whatever." Tenten got up, paid, and walked away. Shikamaru looked back after her. Hinata blushed as she looked quietly at Naruto.

Tenten raced through the streets of Konoha straight for her house to go and see if she had any ice in her fridge because she was burning up like a piece of bread stuck in a toaster.

"TENTEN! YOUTHFUL FLOWER!"

Tenten stopped short and craned her head toward the unwelcome visitor. Lee stood there, gripping Sakura's hand obsessively. Tenten's teeth gritted, her eyes flamed, and she was all but happy. This…this _teammate_ was ruining her day. Her day _off_. And she was _not_ happy.

"Hello, Tenten-chan!" Sakura said, wiggling her wrist. Tenten looked at that motion. She was trying to get Lee off. It was not working. Tenten looked at Lee and managed a forced smile.

"What are you doing, Lee?"

"Oh, youthful flower! I am taking Sakura on a youthful date so that we may enjoy our youthfulness together in youthful harmony!" Lee cried.

"LEE, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The fireworks and sunset ended and Gai slipped back to wherever he had come. Tenten had a vein throbbing in her forehead, and her eyes became twin bonfires. She reached into her weapons pouch.

"_Lee, I'm very happy that you're so happy, now if you excuse me—_"

"Tenten."

Tenten turned around and saw Neji standing behind her. Neji put a hand on Tenten's shoulder.

"Lee, we were just going to train. You can go do…whatever you want."

"LET US GO RUN YOUTHFUL LAPS, SAKURA!" Lee skipped away happily, dragging Sakura along, who waved a tentative goodbye. Tenten and Neji looked back. Tenten turned to Neji.

"Where'd you appear all of a sudden? And we're not going to train today, you said…it's the day off and you said you were going to train at the Hyuga place."

Neji sighed. "There's some business, and so...and also, I was passing by and you were going to kill our teammate. I saw those exploding tags, scrolls, and very sharp weapons you were getting out. You were just deciding which way you wanted to kill him."

Tenten sweatdropped. That was true—she ALMOST felt guilty now.

"Anyway, goodbye." Neji waved and walked away. Tenten stared.

"Well, he said goodbye," Tenten sighed and ran home.

_With Ino…_

Ino was definitely not happy. She stomped through the streets of Konoha, seething. Where in the world was Shikamaru? If he was her boyfriend, he should at least make an _effort_ to make her happy and make the relationship work, a.k.a, be her personal slave. She was not happy. At all.

Ino stopped short when she saw Shikamaru, at the Ichiraku ramen. Shikamaru was sitting there, next to Tenten, and Tenten was…_flirting with him_. Ino gaped. Tenten had never been the romantic type, and this was a sudden change, but…THEY WERE TALKING AND SHARING RAMEN. _Oh, yes. Definitely flirty. No, not flirty, definitely DATING. This was bad! Shikamaru was being downright ungrateful for her being his girlfriend, and he was cheating her besides! _Ino's eyes flamed. **_This was war. DEFINITELY war._**

Ino stopped, and decided not to disturb their…_friendly_ conversation, and slipped into the crowd and let her beautiful long, luscious blond locks down and covered her face. People passed and thought that she looked quite like a madwoman, and her hair made her look like a hideous blond witch as Ino stared at the two. Tenten left after paying and headed back home. Ino got up abruptly and started to contemplate the situation, then decided to…_follow_ Tenten. Follow. Not stalk. Follow.

Ino started to follow, making sure that her hair was well proportioned over her face, tripped because she had failed to proportion her hair to allow her to see, and fell flat on her _beautiful_ face. She screamed in agony.

"MY FACE! MY FACE! SOMEONE, CALL AN AMBULANCE! MY FACE! AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

"Ino? Why are you acting paranoid?"

"Uh—wha?"

"I said, _why are you acting paranoid_. Duh."

"Ah…hahaha…hi, Kiba! And Shino! How are you?"

"…better than you. You, uh, your nose is slightly swollen…"

"H-H—UWWAAAAHHHHTTTT?!!?! DO SOMETHING, YOU FOOLS! MY SENSITIVE FACE WILL SUFFER PERMANENT DAMAGE—MOVE IT!"

"Judging by her…energy, I'm thinking she is fine," commented Shino.

"I'm with you there."

_With Tenten…_

Tenten sighed and looked up at her door. It was lonely, sort of, going into an empty house every day. Tenten sighed again, heavier this time. And what gave her these weird chills down her spine…?

"Hello, Tenten."

"UU—**_EEEYYYYYAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!_**" Tenten jumped five feet in the air, successfully cracked the overhang, and emerged with a huge swelling purple bump on her head. She turned, her eyes telling someone she was NOT in a good mood—actually, something like this…

"**_YOU! YOU IDIOT! WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU ARE GOING TO BE SO DEAD! YOU ARE GOING TO BE DEAD IN A SECOND! I AM SO NOT HOLDING BACK! THIS KILL IS MINE! I DON'T CARE ABOUT JAIL! I'LL BECOME AN EXILED NINJA! YOU IDIOT—YOU FOOL—YOU STUPID—YOU—_**Sasuke!"

"Hello. Um…what…pretty language."

"Uh…ha…ha..." Tenten sweatdropped. "Sorry, you scared me. Anyway, what do you want? I, uh, didn't know you knew the way to my place…" On the inside…

_"THIS GUY IS A STALKER! STOP HIM NOW, TENTEN, WHILE YOU'VE STILL GOT THE OPPURTUNITY! OH, YEAH! PLAY THE 'GOOD GIRL!' WHEN HIS GUARD'S DOWN, YOU CAN REALLY QUICKLY GET INTO YOUR WEAPONS POUCH AND—_"

"Tenten? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Huh? Uh, uh, yeah!" Tenten said. "Anyway, what are you here for?"

Sasuke surveyed her. "I wondered…are you free tomorrow night?"

"Huh? For what?"

"…a date."

Tenten's skin sprouted cold sweat. Her eyes bugged out and her vision got blurry. Her throat was as dry as a desert.

_THE UCHIHA? ASK ME OUT—NO, ASK ANYONE OUT? Impossible. This isn't him—this guy is too weird—this…THIS MUST BE AN ENEMY NINJA FROM ANOTHER VILLAGE! THAT HAS TO BE IT! Is he trying to get information from me…? No…I don't know any high-value information. Wait…am I really on a mission? Am I caught in a genjutsu that erases my memory? This…this is too weird…this is not normal…OH, HELP! _

"Tenten? Are you okay?" Sasuke reached out a hand toward Tenten. Tenten eyed it with eyes as large as her whole weapons collection, and sped away as fast as her legs could carry her. "_Tenten?_"

"_HELP ME TSUNADE-SAMA!_"

"Hm?" Tsunade sipped her sake.

"_T-Tsunade-sama…_" Tenten gasped, out of breath. "_Y-You have t-to…y-you have t-to h-help me…_"

"Hm? What is it?"

Tenten burst out. "**_UCHIHA SASUKE IS ACTING LIKE—LIKE A MADMAN!_**"

"Really? What evidence? Has an enemy ninja infiltrated our ranks?"

"Y-Yes, I think so. Evidence? Well, uh…" Tenten's voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "H—He asked me out. He even said it. He called it…he called it…a _date_."

"Oh? That's all? Well, I have your answer…" Tsunade turned around on her chair and started to sound mysterious and cool. "Well…even Uchiha Sasuke must go through this…_phase_ too."

"_Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama_?" Tenten trembled. A fake? But she called it…a _phase_. What did she mean? Tenten stared at Tsunade, waiting for her answer.

"Indeed…this _phase_. For you see, it is a period called _adolescence_. It does happen around this age. Have you had the _talk_ yet? I will use…hm…guinea pigs as a example. When the male guinea pig likes a female guinea pig, the male wants to capture her attention. After he successfully captures her attention, they make babies…"

"**_TSUNADE-SAMA!_**" Tenten yelled. "_Have you had too much sake? Uchiha Sasuke will—and will never—go and do that. Something is terribly wrong. Can't you understand?_"

"Hm?" Tsunade was too busy sipping sake.

Tenten wobbled out of the room, dazed and shaken and dizzy from shock and exhaustion. Even her idol was of no use! What was going on—

"Hello, Tenten."

Tenten jumped and nearly screamed. Sasuke??! The _Uchiha?!_ The _thing?!_ IT COULDN'T BE IT COULDN'T BE IT JUST COULDN'T BE. She cracked her eyes open a little. Familiar eyes. Neji.

"What are you doing? I heard your conversation. What was that about?"

Tenten started to feel dizzy again. "Uh, I think that the Uchiha has been replaced by something of the unknown. An enemy ninja. Or this could be a genjutsu. Or the Uchiha needs to be in an asylum. Or something…"

"Hm? Asylum? Enemy ninja? Genjutsu? I don't think it's any of those…"

"What do you think it is, then?"

"Hm…I merely think that his liking in you is merely caused by adolescence, which proves that I am cooler than him, and more resistant."

"**_EH?!_**" Tenten began to cry. Not even her sensible, down to earth teammate, Neji, who always was the smart one with the plans and things, DID NOT THINK ANY OF THE "SOMETHING-IS-WRONG-WITH-SASUKES." This was not due to mere _adolescence_. It was due to…_something much more_. Tenten knew this.

"But the fact that he has an attraction…to you is…not good. I will not have my teammate interacting with him. However, I could use this to my advantage…"

Tenten was not listening. Spotting someone she knew, her eyes glistening with hope, she ran away. Neji was pulled out of his thoughts.

"_Tenten? Where are you going? **Tenten! You need to help me defeat the Uchiha! TENTEN?!**_"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: I just wanted to say this…I'm going to try very, very hard to get these chapters in every two days. They'll remain a constant length, of course! Anyway, I'm sorry for bothering you…read on!

**_False Confessions, Secret Intentions_**

Chapter Two: Accepted! Neji's Fury! Or something like that…

"_Sakura!_"

"Hm?" Sakura turned, and faced the red-faced Tenten, with strands of hair flying free of their buns and whipping around her face. "What is it?"

"_S-Sakura_." Tenten stopped and caught her breath. "Um…well, you see…"

"_Yes_. What?"

While Tenten was thinking of a way to say it, she accidentally blurted. "_Sakura, your teammate—that Uchiha guy—he just said—he just—invited me on a date!_"

"**_WHAT?!_**" Sakura yelled. Inner Sakura:

"_IT CAN'T BE! THIS GIRL—THIS TENTEN—SHE'S SO PLAIN! AND SO TOMBOYISH! AND SO—HER HAIR—IT'S IN BUNS—AND—HER CLOTHES—SHE WEARS PANTS—AND—HER COLORING—SHE'S SO _BROWN_—THAT'S SO PLAIN—AND HER AGE—SHE'S OLDER—AND HER TEAMMATES—HER—HER—THAT GIRL! IT CAN'T BE!_"

"S-Sakura?" Tenten looked at the girl with profound confusion. "Uh—Eh—Sakura?" _Maybe I shouldn't have told her_…Tenten thought meekly.

"Huh—ah! It's nothing, it's nothing…" Sakura said, throwing out a fake smile. _I have to keep my cool…_she thought. _This is nothing, it's probably…nothing, Sasuke's just…confused, that's all. If I'm lucky I'll get an opportunity to break them apart if I help Tenten…that's it. And…Tenten likes Neji, that's right…so…everything's cool! Right—right…_ "Oh, so that's your problem? I—I wouldn't worry about—about it," Sakura exclaimed with a false sense of excitement.

"Oh…really? That's good…" Tenten said. _I don't believe it…_Tenten thought. _Uchiha? Confessing? Nah, nah…that wouldn't happen. Maybe he does it regularly. Wait—that can't be it—that can't be it—nah. Wouldn't he have confessed to that Sakura or that Ino already? They're dying to…get to know him. And me—I'm plain. I'm plain. It's like choosing a plain old dusty rock to a shining, glittering, beautiful diamond. Duh._

"S-So…what did he say exactly?"

"Huh? Uh, well…he said, 'I wondered…are you free tomorrow night?' He said it was for '…a date.'"

Neji walked up and surveyed the scene. He could definitely feel the cold, awkward tension between the two. Sakura looked like a reptile—a cold predator, softening up its prey for the strike. Tenten looked severely shaken. This 'date' thing was definitely getting to her.

"O-Oh." Sakura looked to the ground. Her eyes were literally tearing. _This is bad. Very bad. Was the reason Sasuke had rejected me because he liked this…this girl? But he only met her at the Chuunin exams. But…_ Sakura could no longer hide her dismay.

"I—I—well, I—I'll say no, if you want!" Tenten said hurriedly, eager to get away.

"N-No, it's f-fine!" Sakura literally cried. "I-I'm with L-Lee now! I-It's okay! I-I don't care!" and she turned and ran away. Tenten looked at her even more confused, but she shook it off and turned and walked away. Neji looked bewildered at the two.

"What's going on?" he asked, slightly shaken.

_With Ino…_

"So, uh, Ino…you okay?" Kiba asked, looking down at the bedraggled blonde female who looked like she dearly needed a comb. Shino might have, but it was hard to tell behind the glasses.

"I AM NOT OKAY!" Ino shouted. She began to sob. "M-My Sh-Shikamaru…he…he's cheating on m-me!"

"…cheating…?" Shino asked slowly.

"Y-Yes, ch-cheating!" Ino cried. "I—h-how—how could anyone a-abandon m-me?"

"…" Kiba looked at her, then hurriedly changed the subject. "Uh, so…what have you been doing, Ino?"

"_SEEING SHIKAMARU CHEAT ON ME!_" Ino wailed.

"Oh. Uh, do you like, um…do you like…dogs?" Kiba blurted, saying exactly what was on his mind, because dogs were almost always on his mind.

"…dogs?" Ino looked up at him and sniffed. She then jumped up and gave him a swift punch, sending him flying through the air.

"**_YOU'RE TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT! YOU JERK!_**"

"I…I think that his intentions were not so vile," Shino muttered.

_With Tenten…_

Tenten sighed as she started to walk a little slower. This day—this day was going, in short, horribly. Sakura looked depressed—Tenten couldn't help but feel for her. This was not—this was not how she had hoped that the first person who asked her out—this was not how she would have liked it to turn out. _Not only that_, Tenten thought, stopping, _but that Uchiha has a bunch of fangirls. It would be risky, and definitely dangerous—they're thirsty—they're hungry for blood. At least that's what it feels like, when they go and pounce. I should know. After all, _the_ Hyuga Neji is my teammate…but if I go and think about that…that amount of fangirls…multiplied three times…that IS NOT a good—_

"Tenten."

"**_EEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAAAAAACCCCCKKKK!!!_**" Tenten yelled, stumbling back, and reaching into her weapons pouch (reflex action.)

"Wait, Tenten."

"Huh?" Tenten suddenly realized that she recognized that voice. But it was not one she particularly wanted to hear.

Sasuke looked at her and frowned. "What—are you doing?"

"I—uh—this is—I'm not—I—uh—" Tenten searched her mind. "The—uh—reason I ran away from you is—I had some very urgent business with Tsunade-sama!"

"…urgent business?"

"Y—Yeah!" Tenten said, thinking quickly. "Right! My bump on my head—it was really serious, and I needed help from Tsunade-sama—I'm, uh, sorry," she added.

"Oh. Did you think about it?"

Tenten sighed. She couldn't dodge this. "I—I'm sorry that it was so—badly timed," she said. "Er, um…" her eyes darted around. _How in the world am I supposed to act?_ She thought. _This was so sudden. And so out of character for the Uchiha. This was—this was…_ she couldn't describe it. _But maybe…_ she looked at Sasuke, and sighed. _To be honest with, er, myself…I'm not going to get anyone else, that's for sure…and…_ she looked at Sasuke again._ It won't be so bad! I mean—okay. I'll do this for the food._

"S-Sure! I'll go," she said. Now new thoughts were popping into her mind.

_WHAT IF HE MEANS TO DUMP ME? IT'D BE UTTERLY HUMILIATING! WHAT IF THIS IS HIS FIRST STEP AS…AS A PLAYER? OH NO, WHY DID I SAY YES, WHY DID I SAY YES—_

"Wait. Really?" he looked at her.

Tenten looked at them. "Yes."

"…thanks." Sasuke turned and walked away. Tenten looked after him, and when he was out of sight, she broke down and collapsed on the ground.

"**_I'M GONNA BE MURDERED BY FANGIRLS!_**"

_With Neji…_

"Hn…that Tenten…" Neji said with annoyance in his tone. He had been following her for some time now. It could be said that he was worried, or that he was wondering what she was up to, or he was just plain nosy.

_What is she up to?_ he wondered. _It's all very strange…Tenten…and Uchiha…_ He furiously shook those thoughts from his mind. Suddenly he looked around. Where was Tenten?

_I lost track of her…_ Neji thought angrily to himself. _No matter. She couldn't have gotten that far._ Making a few handsigns, he activated the Byakugan.

"There." He quickly made after her.

_Wait…who's that with her? It's—it's Uchiha!_

"Did you think about it?"

"I—I'm sorry it was so badly timed," Tenten said quickly. She seemed to pause a moment, and mumble. "S-Sure! I'll go," she said after a while.

Neji's eyes opened wide. _So she accepted_, Neji thought. _This—I never thought that she would accept—why—wait. Why am I so agitated now? I—I am not envious of Tenten and the Uchiha's relationship. Never. I am only…looking out for my teammate. Tenten and the Uchiha are not suited for one another. That's it._

While Neji was occupied in his own thoughts, Sasuke had turned and walked away. Then something tore him out of his thoughts.

"**_I'M GONNA BE MURDERED BY FANGIRLS!_**" Tenten had collapsed. Neji quickly dropped out of the tree and rushed over to her side, and kneeled down and tapped her.

"Tenten? Are you alright?"

Tenten jumped up. "_I am not alright! Why would I be—_" she stopped and looked at Neji. "Oh. Hi, Neji. I'm bumping into you a lot today. What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I—" Neji searched his mind. "I—I was just—just in the area," he ended lamely. "What—what are you doing? You collapsed. Are you alright?"

Tenten looked at him and immediately was rushed over by the thoughts of what had happened. _I collapsed. I said yes to Sasuke's date. I was walking. I accidentally broke Sakura's heart. Sasuke asked me out to a date. I ate ramen with Shikamaru (I ate part of Shikamaru's ramen.) I was being irritable because of LeeXSakura and ShikamaruXIno._ Her eyes suddenly lit up. _THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING! Neji caught me when I was going over my woes of being killed by Sasuke's fangirls! And I collapsed—and Neji thought—that I was—I was sick or injured or something!_

"I'm okay," Tenten said quickly. "I'm just—just a little woozy, that's, um, all…" she glanced at Neji. His face looked a shade redder than usual. "And I—um, just went and agreed to, um, go and eat dinner with him."

Neji looked as red as a tomato. His eye was twitching and he looked like he was holding back a large, _large_ scream.

"_IT WAS FOR THE FOOD! DON'T HURT ME!_" Tenten cried at once before zooming away like a bullet train.

And far, far away, she could hear something that sounded like a lions roar/jet taking off/train horn/rock and roll concert on max volume.

_With Neji (again)…_

Neji's throat was very dry after he went and let it all out. People nearby were crying half because of deafness and half because they were afraid of Neji and wanted him to feel sorry for them and spare their lives. Neji sighed.

_What in the world am I getting so agitated about…it is just…a meeting…it is nothing…nothing at all…_Neji's face was slowly regaining its original color. _But…Tenten did say she was feeling a bit woozy, didn't she? Then…then she should go home and FORGET ABOUT THE MEETING ALTOGETHER! PERFECT!_ With this newfound goal in mind, Neji sped after his running-like-a-rabbit teammate.

_With Tenten…_

_NOT NEJI…NOT NEJI…THAT IS NOT NEJI…THAT IS SOMEONE ELSE…_Tenten was losing speed now, and in truth she did feel a bit woozy—that could be due to lack of oxygen by running so fast her lungs couldn't keep up. She slowed down, but then she heard a familiar voice.

"_Tenten?_"

_HE HAS COME AFTER ME!!!_ Tenten yelled mentally. _NOT GOOD!!_ She started to run as fast as the speed of light once more. _Wait…if that's really Neji…_ she looked back. _This is not good. Neji could always outpace me. THIS IS NOT GOOD!_ She tried running faster, but to no avail. She was simply out of steam. She couldn't avoid this, and now she had to explain for running away, and everything…without getting on Neji's nerves. She stopped and turned and then…

Neji slammed right into her, sending them both tumbling down, down, and down the street. All of a sudden Neji regained his balance and pulled Tenten down a side street.

"Wh—What was that for?!" Tenten asked irritably. She looked back at Neji. "Oh, yeah, and I've never seen you this clumsy before."

"C—_Clumsy?_" Neji asked slowly. His tone was downright dangerous. Tenten stopped, and realized what she had said.

"_AWKWARDLY! WAIT, NO, NOT THAT, UH, WEIRDLY, WAIT, NOT THAT, UH…**DESTRUCTIVELY**, WAIT! NOT THAT! **NOT THAT!**_"

"_IF YOU'RE SAYING THAT I AM **CLUMSY**, I AM SORRY TO TELL YOU, BUT I AM NOT!_"

"_I DIDN'T MEAN THAT, I—_"

"Lovers quarrel?"

"Huh?" Neji and Tenten said in sync.

"I _said_, lovers quarrel." Temari sighed. "You're not deaf from that horrifying noise somewhere down the street, were you?"

"_I saw you two! You were youthfully running laps together! It was so youthful!_"

"Enemy." Tenten said.

"Temari." Neji said.

"Lee." Tenten said.

"Thing." Neji said.

"What are you doing here, Temari, Lee?" Neji asked, looking at them both in turn.

"You're not…" Tenten looked at them, and Temari caught that look.

"_I don't like ugly here, if that's what you mean!_" Temari said angrily. Lee looked inquiringly at her.

"Then what are you doing?" Neji asked.

"…if I said that it was important business between Konoha and Suna, would you believe me?" Temari muttered awkwardly.

"No." Tenten and Neji said in sync again.

"…fine, fine. It's 'cause ugly here has connections."

"Connections?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Because he has a girlfriend whose name is Haruno Sakura, right?"

Tenten gritted her teeth. A cause of her irritation.

"And she's friends with Yamanaka Ino, who's going out with Nara Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru? Don't you hang out with him? You could just ask him," Tenten said.

"…not so easy. Since he's been going out with that Ino girl, he's been constantly…lazier than usual. We don't hang out that much anymore," said Temari, and Tenten noted that she looked redder and a little more annoyed. "I just wanted to see what was going on with them. Anyway, that's all."

"I, uh, see…" Tenten said. "That's nice…"

"See you later." Temari waved and walked away. Lee ran after her.

"_We have not finished our youthfully youthful conversation!_"

"_WHATEVER!_"

"So, uh, that was interesting…" Tenten said.

"…" Neji had turned stoic and silent again.

"So, uh, why'd you pull me down this side street?"

"Because…" Neji was turning red again. "if someone saw me stumble and trip and fall over a girl…not that that would be clumsiness, but…well, my prodigy look would…crumble. Not to mention I would be labeled permanently as 'pervert.' Sort of like Naruto's sensei."

"Then why were you chasing me in the first place? I'd think you were a stalker…you know, we've met a lot by coincidence today…"

"I, um, I, well, it's just…" Neji remembered what he had…followed her for. "You said you were woozy earlier and I thought that you might be sick, so…"

"_S-Sick?!_" Tenten said, waving her hands. "No, no, not at all…um…were you worried?"

"_W-Worried?!_" Neji said, shaking his head. "No, no, not at all…worried? Me? No, I was just, um, thinking that you might not be, uh, able to train, um, tomorrow…"

"_T-Train?!_" Tenten said. "No, no, I'll be able to train! Of course! I'm just a little dizzy, that's all, you know what, now that you remind me, I'm going to go and sharpen my kunai now! Bye!" Tenten got up quickly and started walking/jogging/running as fast as possible away.

"…Tenten?" Neji looked after her. _Maybe I should follow her…you know, that isn't a bad idea…_

_With Ino…_

"W-Wait, Ino, um…I don't need to be punched again, thanks…" Kiba half said, half pleaded. Fortunately, Ino had resumed her wailing.

"…what happened to make you think he was cheating on you…?" Shino asked.

"…h-h-he…was…_TALKING WITH THAT UGLY TENTEN GIRL, AND SHARING RAMEN WITH H-HER!!!_"

"…talking…and…sharing ramen…with…Tenten…?" Kiba said slowly. "…that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, In—"

"**_JERK!_**" Ino gave him another swift punch, sending him once again flying through the air.

"**_EEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKK!!! I-INOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!_**"

Shino watched this. He might even have been amused, but it was hard to tell. He's Shino, after all.

_With Tenten…_

Tenten slowed down, and panted. She sure was running a lot today. She stopped, and checked her surroundings. She was, perhaps by chance, near her house. She walked up and opened the door. She stopped, reading the note on the back of the door.

_Dear Tenten,_

_I will pick you up at 7:00 tonight. Be ready._

_Sincerely,_

_Uchiha Sasuke_

"How, um, romantic," Tenten commented. Then something sparked in her mind.

"**_HOW IN THE WORLD DID THIS GET ON THE BACK OF MY DOOR?!_**"

She completely missed the P.S.

_P.S. Tenten, do not question why this note is tacked on the back of your door. It is not important._


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: A special, let me repeat, _special_ feature of this fanfiction is that the characters now have…personal demons! Each character should have about two…so if anything confuses you because the character is arguing with himself or herself, they're not paranoid…it's personal demons!

Author's Note: I tried to get this in before the New Year, and I did! This story is coming out much better than I had hoped—maybe I just have low standards. I'm sorry, but on the fourth chapter I'm having a bit of delay…it should come out in at most three days.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Three: The _Romantic_ Date and the Envious Stalker!

Tenten sighed and hugged her stuffed panda harder. She checked the clock again, not eagerly. It was 6:00. Thoughts poured through her mind like syrup, oozing their way through her skull. And she did feel like she was covered in syrup. Her muscles were numb and she didn't feel like moving much. She sat and thought to herself.

_Maybe if I wait here and pretend I'm not home, he'll forget and leave me alone..._

_No, Tenten, that's perfectly ridiculous. It's cowardly and he'll just find you, anyway. _

_But then what…what should I do? _

_You should go get ready and get this over with already. _

_BUT I DON'T WANNA! _

_YES YOU WANNA! _

_BUT I DON'T! _

_Don't be a fool, Tenten! That guy's a catch…_

_I hate you, flirty self. _

_I hate you, cowardly self. COW-SELF!_

_YOU'RE SO MEAN TO MEEEE!!!_

_MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And that's also why I get all the guys._

…_guys?_

_YES, GUYS, NOW COWER UNDER MY SUPREME MIGHT!_

_EEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! SAVE ME TENTEN, SAVE ME!_

_Great_, Tenten thought, _it's been fourteen years and I only now realize that one of my selves is a coward and the other one is downright flirtatious. I am so very lucky._ She sighed and got up, carefully placing the stuffed bear on her bed. _I can't dodge this. I might as well…go get ready. _She sighed again and thought how she wished that this was as easily dodged as a kunai. But it wasn't, so she went and took a shower, and after that she went and looked for something to wear (mind you, she isn't wearing a towel—she's wearing clean clothes). She went through her dresser first.

Pink Chinese shirt, pink Chinese shirt, pink Chinese shirt...she had at least five of them. Blue Chinese shirt, blue Chinese shirt…she had at least three of those. Green Chinese shirt—two of those.

"_Don't I have anything else than these Chinese shirts!?_" Tenten yelled in exasperation. Then she remembered she had chosen her own closet. Well, of course…this style of clothing was suited for flexibility and used to wear—suited for ninja work, that is. Not outing. She had never gone out in her life except for occasionally eating out with her teammates or alone. She sighed, and then went through all the other drawers in search of something more suitable. There was a dress—a yellow one, with pink flowers on it that her mother had bought her. It was three sizes too small.

"Oh, well…" Tenten sighed and went in search of one of her best-looking Chinese shirts. She finally chose a blue one, which looked cleanest and least stained. She chose her best black pants, but altogether she looked pretty plain and un-feminine. It would have to do. She checked her watch again. 6:45. Tenten tied her hair up in the usual buns and then grabbed her shoes and slipped her feet into them, and then stopped before going out the door. Her weapons pouch was still on her dresser. She thought a moment and then grabbed it and tied it around her waist. It never hurt to have weapons about, in case of emergencies. Like Uchiha, beating her up or something for some reason or another.

After finishing Tenten stopped a moment. "I can't believe it—I never thought I would ever take this long preparing." She hurriedly finished putting on her shoes and rushed through the door.

Sasuke already stood there. He looked almost the same, except that he was wearing long sleeves and long pants, but same design. Tenten stopped momentarily in the doorway.

_TENTEN! YOU CAN STILL BACK OUT OF THIS! _

_N-No w-way! I've gotta d-do this! Come to think of it, where are my selves? The coward and the flirt? _

_They're out for break. May I take a message?_

_Uh, no thanks. And tell them they are welcome to stay out as long as they want. Permanently._

"H-Hi!" Tenten said, trying to sound excited. Her heart was sinking down to her toes. Sasuke looked her up and down, as if examining her. Tenten immediately wished she had had better

"…hello…"

"So, um, should we get going, Uchiha-san?" Tenten asked. Sasuke looked at her. His gaze, at least to Tenten, said, "_DOOM! DOOM! I AM YOUR DOOM!_"

After a moment's pause he replied, "It's Sasuke." And he turned and walked away. Tenten sighed and followed after.

_With Neji…_

_I am not a stalker! I am just looking out for Tenten!_ Neji argued angrily with his personal demons. It was 7:00, and the sun was low in the sky. And here he was, watching Tenten and Uchiha. He was starting to feel the ache of hunger, but he shook this off. He could eat later. He just had to make sure that nothing happened between…Tenten and…Uchiha. _It is nothing!_

_Yeah, yeah…stalker. Stalker!_

_L-Leave the poor girl alone, N-Neji-kuni! It's her d-date, her business._

_Be quiet. _

_T-That's not nice, Neji-kun!_

_Great. Why do I have these two really, really annoying selves…one's downright annoying and the other is an annoying version of Hinata-sama! Much more annoying._

_Oh…? Are you admitting to some liking to Hinata-chan? Hm?_

_What in the world are you rambling about?_

_YOU ARE CHEATING ON TENTEN-CHAN! YOU HAVE A SECRET AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH HINATA-CHAN!_

_W-**WHAT?!**_

_So. It's obvious you have hugged before, even kissed…so, have you done…'that', yet?_

_O-Oh, a-and he hasn't even had the 'talk' y-yet!_

_…**what. In. The. World. Are. You. Rambling. About…?!**_

_Tenten-chan's going to be so sad when she hears that she wasn't your first time, kid!_

_O-Oh! (at this point the annoying Hinata self fainted)_

_**Do you want me to kill you both…?**_

_Heh, heh…we are you, kid! Unless you die, we aren't going away!_

_**I NEED THESE EVIL SPIRITS PURGED FROM ME!!!**_

_Be quiet. The annoying Hinata self is sleeping._

_**THAT'S IT! AND BESIDES, I WOULD NEVER DATE HINATA BECAUSE SHE'S MY COUSIN, BESIDES! AND I DON'T LIKE HER OR FEEL ATTRACTED TO HER! THERE!** (with this Neji stomped out of his mind. Do not ask how that is impossible. It is not important. What is important is the date.)_

"They're gone," Neji said. He looked around quickly. They were just a little down the street, and Neji followed in quick pursuit, taking care not to be noticed by Sasuke and Tenten.

_With Tenten…_

_This is so awkward. I need to…I need to…uh…make conversation…_

_Oh, yes, make 'conversation.' And while you're at it, take his first kiss! _

_F-Flirty self!_

_B-But, that seems a-awfully b-brave…_

_Oh, yes! You can begin like this…'So, hot stuff, how 'bout we vigorously make out now?' It's to the point._

_If you were solid, I would so strangle you right now. 'To the point.' I don't want to go to the point, **thanks**._

_…_

_And then he would take you in his arms and your lips would meet, and you would lightly kiss at first, and then deeper and deeper, and then you would French kiss…_

_…you sound like you've done this a lot, considering you've been in my head for all this time._

_…who says I don't go out sometimes?_

_How can you…? I know that the cowardly self wouldn't go out if…it could, but what about you?_

_There is a passage unknown to you that leads through your ear canal on chakra paths where I can go out and meet some friends._

_Friends? _

_Oh, yes. Like the self of that Neji. He's so hot, you know! You should totally go out with him, if you don't like this Sasuke. Then we can meet more often, and maybe even have a relationship!_

_…are you stupid?_

_No._

_That was a rhetorical question. You are, by the way._

_Hey!_

_You are stupid, you ugly thin--_

"Tenten?" she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Sasuke looking at her quizzically.

"I-It's n-nothing!" Tenten said loudly, walking faster. "So, uh, where are we going?" _This is so lame. I am so lame at small talk. Why am I so lame at small talk?_

_Because you have no romantic life whatsoever, or social life whatsoever, for that matter._

_I don't need that from you._

_Wh—wait, who says I don't have a social life?!_

_I DID! Now go and sit down like a good little self, and maybe I'll bring you a popsicle later. _

_Oh. Oka—WAIT A MINUTE. HOW DO I KNOW YOU WON'T BRING ME A YUCKY GRAPE POPSICLE?! I WANT CHERRY! TENTEN!? TENTEN!!_

_Bye. He's replying._

"For Korean barbecue. I don't go out that often, so I don't know a lot of good restaurants, but Chouji goes there a lot, so…"

"…you take recommendations from him? You talk with him?"

"…hn…maybe…sometimes…" Sasuke didn't tell her that he had heard it from Sakura who had heard it from Ino who had experienced it first hand.

"Oh. Well, that's nice! It's good to socialize sometimes," Tenten said quickly.

"…socialize…" Sasuke looked at her and then his mouth stopped moving. And it closed. And he turned and started to walk again. Tenten caught this and began to walk after him.

_Great. He's going silent on me. Then it'll be awkward silence all night. Oh, well…that might be for the best. But…I had hoped to have more…fun on my first date. But does this count…?_ Tenten returned to scuffing her feet against the ground. This continued until they reached the restaurant, and then after they began eating…until Sasuke finally made the first comment.

Of course, it was not a very romantic one. But what do you expect?

"You're nibbling at your food," Sasuke said dully.

"Huh?" Tenten looked up from where she was, truly, nibbling on her food. She blushed and said hastily, "I, um, usually don't eat much, so…"

"Is that true? But I've heard you eat a lot. Piggishly." Sasuke shrugged. "And that you have no manners at all, and sometimes don't even use chopsticks. And that your feet smell. And you never wash your clothes. And you take naps while you train. And your weapons ninjutsu are all cheap tricks."

Tenten spit out all of her chewed food. "**_WHAT?!_**"

"I heard from Sakura. She heard from her boyfriend."

_L-Lee…? LEEEEE…_ Tenten was steaming. Literally. It was coming out of her ears and her face was getting redder and redder.

"Of course, she could have translated 'youthfully' to 'piggishly.' And the others…you could have…had youthful manners, and youthfully use chopsticks and your feet are youthful, and your clothes are youthful, and your training is youthful, and your weapons ninjutsu is youthful." Tenten was momentarily stunned. That was the longest sentence she had ever heard him say.

"O-Oh." Tenten blushed again. _I cannot believe that Sakura…SAKURA would resort to such tactics in getting her man…_Tenten thought. _Why, WHY did I accept…this is horrible…this is bad…this is only the FIRST of many fangirl attacks…but SAKURA would do something…like this…unthinkable! Horrible! A sign of true desperation!_

"..."

The rest of the meal continued in silence, and Tenten's appetite did not increase. Like a gentleman, Sasuke paid the bill (though it was a small bill, because neither ate very much), and proceeded to walk Tenten home.

_I knew it. Awkward silence occasionally interrupted by awkward conversation. This is not how I pictured my first date when I was little and still liked that sort of stuff…_Tenten sighed to herself.

_Come ON already, Tenten! Pull yourself together! _

_You can shut up._

_H-How harsh…_

_You can shut up too._

_GRAB THE GUY! AND HIS KISS!_

_…_

_NO WAY!_

_IS IT BECAUSE…YOU WANT NEJI!_

_N-NEJI?!_

_YEAH! HE'S THE ONLY ONE WORTH TAKING BESIDE THAT SASUKE GUY…LEE IS MUSCULAR, BUT HE IS SO ANNOYING! AND THAT SASUKE'S TEAMMATE, NARUTO, HE'S SO ANNOYING! AND THAT LAZY GUY IS NOT WORTH IT, AND THAT FAT GUY IS…ugh…AND THAT BUG DUDE IS DISGUSTING, AND THAT DOG GUY IS WEIRD!_

_YOU SURE ARE GOOD AT FLINGING INSULTS!_

_YEAH! I KNOW! THANK—wait. Was that an insult._

_Oh, no, no, it wasn't! What made you think it was an insult?_

_OH. I guess not._

_That was sarcasm, you idiot._

_Idiot, am I? You're just calling yourself an idiot!_

_…um…_

_JUST GO AND GET THAT GUY ALREADY! YOU WON'T GET ANYONE ELSE, WITH THAT HAIRSTYLE AND THOSE CLOTHES AND THAT TOMBOYISH NATURE!_

_BE QUIET, YOU ANNOYING—_

Before she was finished with her bad name that she was going to call herself, she noticed that Sasuke had stopped. Tenten looked at him curiously.

_Is he going to stop and go to his place here? We're only…we're only about halfway to my place. That's not…very gentlemanly to leave me here. _

_…?_

_Even my flirty self has nothing to say?_

_…yeah…_

Tenten walked up to Sasuke. "Um…if you don't want to walk me the rest of the way, that's fine," she said. Sasuke looked at her through half-closed eyes.

And there was a pause, and everything was still, even Tenten's inner selves. And then Sasuke began leaning toward Tenten, and his eyes closed.

Tenten stopped breathing momentarily, and gulped.

And only a few seconds later did she realize that their lips were going to meet.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Four: Tenten's Charming Prince!

Tenten was breathing hard. Sasuke's lips were getting closer and closer.

_What should I do? What should I do? I—I—_

_Oh, yes! The kiss, at last!_

Tenten was simply too shocked to even think about what her flirty self said. In her panic she put up her hands and jumped away. Sasuke looked at her.

"S-Sorry," Tenten said quickly. "I, uh, I'm not feeling well, and I…I think that I might have a cold, and I don't want to give you my germs!" she certainly hoped the lame excuse worked.

"…" Tenten felt Sasuke's eyes on her. He was about to say something when…

…she suddenly she felt a rush of air, a very slight one. She didn't see Sasuke. She saw Neji's back.

Sasuke looked angry now. He took a step back and Neji stepped beside Tenten.

"I…apologize, Uchiha, for any inconveniences…but I have some…urgent business with Tenten."

"…none taken." Tenten noted that this sounded as if forced.

"…now, if you would please excuse us…" Neji grabbed Tenten's hand in a death grip and began to drag her away. Sasuke turned, and then looked back at them. His expression read: Dangerous kitty sulking from a temper-tantrum. Do not approach.

"N-Neji," Tenten protested. She had had enough of Neji for today. "What in the world…I can walk by myself, you don't have to drag me…where are you taking me…_Neji!_"

Neji eyed her, and stopped momentarily. Tenten breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tha—_UUWWWWAAA!!_"

Neji had gone and, in an instant, picked her up bridal-style. Tenten blushed a bright crimson.

"_Neji, what in the world are you doing—_"

"You said earlier that you were woozy. I do not think that it is fit for you to go out while you may possibly be ill."

"_I-Ill?! I'm fine, now put me down!_"

"I have also judged that you are unfit to walk by yourself. For example, you showed many signs of weakness and even a case of collapsing today."

"_Okay, just listen to me already!_"

"And I am taking you back to your place. Is that not where you were headed?"

"Well, uh, yeah, but—_hey!_"

"And also…I have also judged that you may not be well enough to stay by yourself. I will stay with you, for the night."

"_Okay, stop having a one-sided conversation with yourself, already!_"

"Hm?" Neji stopped and looked down at Tenten, whose face was red with fury.

"_PUT ME DOWN!_"

"No." Neji continued to walk. Tenten looked at him and sighed. There was no arguing with Hyuga Neji. She would let herself be carried like this a little longer.

_I did not do that to interrupt Uchiha and his kiss. I am not carrying her in case Uchiha comes to get her so that we can escape quickly. I am not going to stay at her place because I don't want Uchiha going and making a "surprise" midnight visit._

_Did Neji want to interrupt that kiss? Well, actually, I wanted someone to interrupt it…and, uh, he's never carried me like this before…and…stop thinking about that. But…DOES HE WANT TO STAY AT MY PLACE BECAUSE OF…BAD THINGS?!_ Tenten thought with increasing horror. _No way…no way…Neji's not like that…but you don't really know his…private life, now do you? I don't…but…_this only made Tenten more nervous and shaking.

_But on the other hand…this seems…very princely._

This continued for a while—Tenten remained quiet in Neji's arms as he walked. The sky was dark, and there was only a little wind to rustle the trees, and the sky was clear and the moon shone through.

"Oh." Tenten suddenly remembered. "You said there was urgent business. What was it?"

"…" at least Neji had come up with a back-up plan. Sort of. "Tsunade-sama wants to meet with the team tomorrow."

"_…Tomorrow._"

"Yes, I said tomorrow. At 8:00."

"If it's tomorrow, why couldn't you have told me then? It's not like we have to travel a long ways to get to Tsunade's office."

"…I wanted you to be well-prepared?" even Neji sounded awkward.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. That's the lamest excuse I have ever heard. But…never mind…" the two had reached Tenten's door. Neji gently let Tenten down, and she opened the door and walked inside. It was pitch dark until she flipped the light switch, and Neji followed.

Tenten snuggled pleasantly into her covers. It was cozy, and she felt totally relaxed. Well, except for one thing.

"Neji," Tenten said irritably. "Will you stop watching me? I can't get to sleep with your eyes glued on me."

"…" no reply.

"Fine, then." Tenten flipped over and tried to focus on counting sheep and then butchering them with kunai. But she could still feel the icy stare from the prodigy sitting on the chair on the other side of the room. _Jeez. Does he ever sleep?_ Tenten sighed, and after about counting to 127, 316 sheep and a lot of butchered sheep, she finally managed to get to sleep.

Tenten woke woozily and stared ahead of her. Then she stared at the clock. That certainly woke her up quickly.

"**_8-8:00?!_**" Tenten got up, sped to the shower, hastily put on her clothes, put her hair in buns, tied on her hitai-ate, and rushed out the door.

"_I am so sorry, Tsunade-sama! Sorry, sorry!_"

"Calm down, Tenten. That doesn't matter—after all, your teammates aren't coming in. Lee and Gai went on some training expedition and won't be back till later today and Neji is…he said he was busy."

"Busy?" Tenten said blankly. _Well, he wasn't there when I woke up…so he must have gone back home sometime in the night…_

"So you will have to inform them later of this mission. The mission…" Tsunade began, "is to protect a wealthy nobleman who says he will pay a generous amount. He informed us that he may be hunted, and he wishes to be safe. He is to be escorted from the Sea Country to the Tea Country."

Tenten nodded.

"You will be sent with another team…Team Kurenai."

"…two teams? Why, Tsunade-sama?"

"It is questionable to exactly what the man's enemies are planning, and since this is a nobleman it would be classified as of higher ranking than mere commoners."

"…I see."

"When your teammates are able, please bring them to my office—I wish to give the mission officially."

"Yes!" Tenten nodded and was preparing to leave when she saw Sasuke walk through the door.

"Tenten."

"H-Hello, S-Sasuke."

Sasuke eyed the Hokage through lidded eyes. "I was just wondering what Neji's…urgent business was, last night. I assumed that it was a mission. I suppose so. After all, he did cut our date short."

"Date?" Tsunade asked with a hint of surprise. "You two are dating?"

"_It's…uh…it's…Tsunade-sama…it's…don't misunde—_"

"Yes. We are dating."

"Hm…hm…that is…interesting, is it not?" Tsunade remarked. She sounded almost amused. "Well, let me change what I have just said…Uchiha Sasuke! Please inform your teammates that Team Kakashi will be going on a mission with Team Gai. Team Kurenai will be given a mission elsewhere."

"_B-But, Tsunade-sama_…" Tenten stammered.

"_Do not question my orders!_" Tsunade said sternly. Tenten looked at her, nodded, and quickly walked out of the room. Tsunade was secretly giddy with herself—she really pulled off the commanding tone well. Sasuke nodded at this as well and left.

"Tsunade-sama…was that necessary?" Shizune asked, stepping up beside Tsunade's desk.

"…in a way. That prodigy needs someone in his life."

"…Sasuke?"

Tsunade turned toward Shizune, and her eyes had a knowing feeling to them.

"I wasn't necessarily talking about Sasuke, now, was I?"

"…at last." Tenten sighed with relief. She had felt Sasuke's presence for several blocks, and she assumed that she had finally lost him. She put a hand to her forehead. She now had a dull ache in her head—probably a result of many stressful situations. She still blushed furiously when she remembered that…she searched for a word…_humiliating_ experience.

_How dare he go and carry me all the way home!_ Tenten thought furiously.

_Hm? I don't see what you're so worked-up about,_ flirty-self said. _I'm just disappointed there was no action. It was downright boring!_

_…but…T-Tenten-chan is s-so b-brave! I'm s-sure she could h-have done i-it!_

_..pff. She's such a loser at this sort of thing! _

_I-I'm s-sure T-Tenten-chan could h-have t-taken N-Neji-san and b-beaten h-him!_

_…huh? When did you get so…eh? _

_…it is not talking about the inappropriate things that often fill your head, flirt-sama,_ Tenten thought dryly.

_..hm? Oh, poor you! You thought I was talking about training and fighting, weren't you! So simple. So simple._

_…s-simple…?!_

_Yeah, COWY-CHAN!_

_Hey. Stop that. I've got enough of a headache as it is without you guys starting a fight up there._

_S-SO M-MEAN!_

_Cha, cha, Cowy-chan! _

_U-UUWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!_

_Hee, hee, Cowy-chan's crying!_

_I hate my inner selves._

_Che, che!_

_I hate you most, annoying flirt-sama._

_I know!_

"Tenten?" Tenten was once again jolted out of her inner arguments by a familiar voice.

"_I—It's you!!_" Tenten shouted in panic.

"…you've forgotten my name already?" Neji asked dryly. Inside…

_…she's angry at me. She's…well, I did avoid meeting her at Tsunade's office…no. I didn't do that. I had urgent training to do. Very important._

_Kid…you sure know how to do it, don't you? Yes, insult a girl's feelings, then avoid her…then go and pull some other insulting comment…_

_N-Neji-k-kun…_

"H-Hmph!" Tenten said, disgustedly. He was a main source of her headache

today—she didn't owe him any favors, and she could be as disrespectful as she wanted.

Neji ignored this. "I saw you walking with Uchiha. Tenten. He…" Neji paused.

_He is not good for you. I am. Dump him and marry me,_ the flirty self suggested.

"He is…you shouldn't meet with him," Neji ended at last, apparently finding nothing to express his feeling.

"…meet with him?" Tenten said slowly. She looked sad a moment. Neji's insides were flipping like pancakes.

_Did I do something?! …it'd be bad if she went sobbing on me. But Tenten's not like that…_

_Yeah, kid. And after you pull the insulting comment, tell her not to go out with a certain guy and order her to go out with you! Great._

_D-Do you h-have this s-situation under…control, Neji-k-kun?_

_I do!_

Tenten looked up at him, then exploded.

"**_Neji, what makes you think you have the right to go and control MY life under YOUR rules! I can go out with whomever I like! Just because YOU don't like it doesn't mean I can't meet with him! And why are you so unhappy because I'M going out with him?! YOU AREN'T!_**"

"…he's not good for you." Neji said, with a small but of meekness in his voice.

"**_G-Good? Like, candy isn't good for your teeth! And rocks aren't good emergency weapons! Well, can you think of anything else? Anything better to say besides, 'Oh, Tenten, I don't like it that you're going out with so-and-so. It'll reduce the amount of time I use in shortening your life with nonstop training.' WELL, I'M SO SORRY, HYUGA-SAMA! YOU'RE AN IDIOT, HYUGA-SAMA, AN IDIOT!_**"

"Tenten, stop acting like that and—"

Tenten was already running away before he finished his sentence.

_Huh. Got the 'situation under control', eh, kid? Jeez. Is that lame. After telling her not to go out with some guy, she bursts out at you and dumps you. _

_…Neji-kun?_

_Shut up._ Neji started walking away sulkily.

_With Tenten…_

Tenten was seething and she stalked through the streets of Konoha.

_Hey, you, Tenten, stop! Go apologize to the guy! You went and burst out for no apparent reason—he's just showing concern for you!_

_R-Right, T-Tenten-chan!_

_SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!_

_Tenten…this isn't like you. Is it something about that…guy?_

_NO! HE'S A STOIC, UNEMOTIONAL JERK WHO GOES AND DOES WHATEVER HE PLEASES 'CAUSE HE'S A "PRODIGY!" WHO CARES ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!_

_T-Tenten-chan…_

_Get out._

_No can do. The toll's five hundred ryou and we're broke._

_Then shut up._

_No can do. We're here to make your life—_

_—a living nightmare?_

_…not exactly._

_You are. Shut up, go in a corner, and stay there._

_…hmph. Miss Cranky-Pants…_

_Miss Annoying Flirty-Pants._

_Well, don't call for us when you find out how much you miss us! Ungrateful…let's go, Cow-self!_

_…o-okay…g-get better s-soon, T-Tenten-chan…_

Tenten oddly didn't feel any better once her inner selves had gone. But it didn't matter. A couple kids from the Academy who were roasting marshmallows on her seething self were immediately chased away by millions of weapons.

"Tenten! Youthful flower! Why are you acting so un-youthfully today?"

"…" Tenten turned, coming face-to-face with Lee. He looked as happy and youthful as ever. She smiled evilly.

"Tenten?"

"I needed something to release all of my anger on. HYAH!" with all of her strength and fury, Tenten punched Lee into the air.

"_T-Tenten! W-Why, why did you do such a horrible thin…_" his voice faded off into the distance.

"That's better." Tenten turned and was about to walk more, when someone caught her arm.

"Tenten, I've been looking for you."

"…Sasuke." Tenten turned. "What do you want? I've released all of my anger now—I can't use you as a punching bag."

"…" Sasuke eyed the still-flying Lee. "Is something the matter?"

Tenten looked at him, and remembered. "…yeah."

"…what?"

Tenten stepped closer and then seized the front of Sasuke's shirt, and pulled him toward her. Even Sasuke was surprised. Then she put her lips on his, and after a couple seconds, she released him and muttered, "Sorry." Then she went and began walking away, whistling happily.

Sasuke eyed Tenten. "What's wrong with her…?" and touched his lips with a twitching eyeball. "And I thought it was the boy who usually made the first move…" he sighed and began walking away.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Five:

Tenten sighed as she thought. She was supposed to inform her teammates about her mission—one she had burst out at with an extra serving of hot peppers, and the other she had blasted to some other world. Today—was not her day either.

"Tenten. I've been looking for you." Neji walked up to her. Tenten turned around and sighed. "Why are you so angry?"

"Nothing." Tenten said with annoyance.

"It's nothing…? I've never seen you act that way."

"I _said_, it's nothing."

"And why are you in this part of the village? Did you have something to do here? You ran off to this part—I assumed…" his voice trailed off.

"…" Tenten looked at him. "Yes…" she said slowly. "Yes, I did. I had a _meeting_ with Sasuke here, to apologize for _last night_, and the _urgent business_, and we…"

Neji waited expectantly. He certainly hoped it was, 'broke up.'

"We kissed."

"**_WHAT?!_**" Neji shouted. Tenten looked at him with interest before saying,

"Heh, heh. So, uh, Neji, we have a mission escorting some noble guy from the Sea Country to the Tea Country. Meet with Tsunade-sama later for the details! We're going with Team Kakashi! Bye!" Tenten zoomed away. The fact that their next mission was with Sasuke only enraged Neji further until the kids who had been chased away by Tenten began roasting their marshmallows on him, and then Neji merely used Gentle Fist on all of them so that they fell to the ground and cried out in pain before Neji stalked away.

_With Sasuke…_

"…Sakura. Thing."

"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said cheerfully, though on the inside she was boiling and weeping in grief at the same time.

"You're late, baka!" Naruto said while gulping down ramen.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"I came here to tell you to meet with Tsunade later. She has a mission for us with Team Gai."

"O-Oh," Sakura said, a little disappointed. She had hoped that it wouldn't be something that involved Tenten.

"You didn't tell us why you're late!"

"Oh. That. That's because I was kissing Tenten," Sasuke said this dully, like he kissed a new girl every day.

"Oh. **_EEEHHHH?!?!?!_**" Naruto cried out.

"**_WHAT?!!?!?!??!_**" Sakura cried.

Sasuke look at the two of them, panicking, and sighed and left the ramen stall before ordering anything.

_With Lee…_

"Oh! Look! Chipmunks! Such youthful creatures…hello, cute little youthful animals!" Lee waved. He looked around. "Where am I now? I do believe…"

"**_OW!_**" Temari cried. She rubbed her head and turned. The spandex-wearing taijutsu-user looked up at her and grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

"Man. Here I am, innocently going back to Suna, when something…something _large_, comes flying and hits me straight in the head. Now what in the world are you doing, Lee?"

"Me? I have been un-youthfully hit by Tenten, with all of her youthful rage and fury, and it seems I have finally come down upon—you!" Lee cried cheerfully.

"_Right_. _I am so incredibly happy that I have a concussion. And the fact that I couldn't break Ino and Shikamaru up before I left,_" Temari said…happily. Sort of.

"Oh, that is so youthful!" Lee cried.

"…you didn't listen to a word I said."

"No!"

"I can't believe you can say that with a straight face," Temari muttered.

"But did you say something about breaking Ino and Shikamaru up?" Lee inquired. "That is un-youthful!"

"No, it isn't. Because…" Temari put up a finger and tapped him on his forehead. "…Shikamaru is unhappy since they started dating. So he would be more youthful if I broke them up. And Ino is unhappy since they started dating. So she would also be more youthful if I broke them up. Thing is, Ino is too stubborn to let Shikamaru go, and Shikamaru is simply too lazy to dump her."

"Oh! How _youthful_ of you!" Lee cried. "Why did you not carry out with your plan?"

"Because I couldn't find a chance to before I had to leave for Suna again," Temari said.

"Really? But your returning to Suna is much less important than making the world a more youthful place! And isn't it true that you are also less youthful since they have begun to date? That means then that your brothers would be less youthful, and then Suna would be less youthful, the people from Konoha visiting Suna would be less youthful, Konoha would be less youthful, then the Konoha ninja would be less youthful, then the WORLD would be less youthful!" Lee cried.

"I cannot believe you said that in one breath," Temari said.

"I know! Gai-sensei has taught me to have very powerful lungs so I may inform more people of youthfulness as well as having more stamina while training!" Lee cried.

"…you have a point there."

"With the youthful lungs?"

"No, with the…youthful world thing. So my returning to Suna _can_ be put off a little while. **_Come on, spandex-boy, you are officially my accomplice in crime!_**"

"Crime? That is un-youthful!"

"…okay. It's not crime. It just sounds cooler, like on TV when there is the cool and hot criminal and her uncool and ugly sidekick. Then it makes the criminal, the hot and cool one, look hotter and cooler."

"Oh. OKAY! So what shall we do first, to make the world more youthful? Buy out all the clothes in all clothing stores and replace them with green spandex suits?" Lee said excitedly.

"Not exactly. First, my boy, we're goin' back to Konoha!" Temari grabbed Lee by the neck of his spandex suit and began to drag him back the way he had flown.

_With Tenten…_

Sakura looked at Tsunade oddly. "_What?_"

"Yes. Temari just reported in that Lee flew through the air and hit her in the head, and is now suffering mentally, so she is keeping him for the time being to undergo therapy, so he will not be joining your group today. Instead, I have brought in Hyuga Hinata…actually, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Akimichi Chouji were free as well, but Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru are having…personal difficulties, and I feared that Chouji would have…difficulties with food. And Inuzuka Kiba was found with serious injuries inflicted upon him, and Aburame Shino was unable to be contacted."

"How true," Naruto muttered.

Tenten looked guiltily around. At least only Neji knew that she had punched her teammate in fury…but she noticed that Sakura, Naruto, and Neji were all looking at her weirdly. She was glad to have someone else besides Sasuke not look at her weirdly…maybe Hinata could be some source of comfort.

Sakura glared at Tenten. _How dare she take my Sasuke? And his, uh, his second kiss? At least, I think it was his second kiss. But how dare she take…uh, his first date? This is unthinkable! Unthinkable!_

Naruto looked at Tenten with fear in his eyes. _Wow, I didn't know Tenten was such…a flirt…kissing Sasuke? And in public? I wonder how many times they've kissed…I wonder how many times they've done 'that'…_

Neji looked at both Sasuke and Tenten with narrowed eyes and mixed feelings. _Kissed…Uchiha…?! Unthinkable. Awful. Did she do it out of spite? Hm. I wonder if she's kissed before—she talked about it so casually…_

_Of course, kid! A lot of people have their first kiss before age five!_

_YEAH. WITH THEIR MOTHERS AND RELATIVES, AND MAYBE DOGS._

_O-Oh, N-Neji-k-kun, it's s-so sad y-your girl is t-taken…I-I'm s-sorry…_

_You can both shut up now._

Tenten shivered. She hoped this mission could end quickly so she could go and ask Tsunade for a LONG break from missions, until all this cleared up.

Shouldering her bag, Tenten started to walk out of the Konoha gates, followed closely by Hinata, then Sakura whose eyes were burning holes in Tenten's back, then Sasuke, then Neji whose eyes were burning holes in Sasuke's back, then Naruto, who was shivering.

Ignoring those eyes of immense hate, Tenten slowed down a bit until she was walking side-by-side with Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata, do you think that you can help me with something?"

"Uh, y-yes."

Tenten sighed. "Okay, so here's how it goes…Sasuke asked me out on a date."

"H-He d-did?!" Hinata asked in surprise. Tenten nodded.

"And so then, I was really surprised and freaked out, too—then, I accepted—Neji started acting weirdly—I went, it was super boring…until the end when Sasuke tried to kiss me."

Hinata listened intently. "D-Did h-he?"

"No—'cause then Neji comes along and he pulls me away for 'urgent business'—it turns out he just wanted to tell me the mission 'ahead of time', and then goes and picks me up likes some little kid, and takes me to the house and ends up staying there the night!"

"I-Is that w-why N-Neji-nii-s-san c-came back l-late…" Hinata mumbled.

"And so then I wake up, and I meet Tsunade-sama, and then it turns out Lee AND Neji aren't there—I got angry, and I met with Neji—and exploded. So, uh, then I meet with Sasuke, and uh, kiss him to make Neji angry because he said not to meet with Sasuke anymore." Tenten blushed. "Uh, was I wrong? I think so, now."

"…" Hinata stopped, apparently thinking. "I—I don't t-think that you were wrong, but…" she glanced at her cousin. "N-Neji-nii-san…he can…he…" Hinata searched for words. "He…he won't apologize to you. He's stubborn in t-that way. A-And T-Tenten-chan…I-I think t-that you…it…I n-noticed how the others are acting t-towards you…it m-might be a g-good idea to a-apologize, and…S-Sasuke-k-kun…he…d-do you like him, truly?"

Tenten looked at Hinata. "I—I don't know. Maybe."

"I-If you don't t-truly like him, y-you should m-make that clear," Hinata ended softly.

"Clear?" Tenten looked at her, then whispered, "He'll kill me!"

"I-I d-don't think so—at least, n-not with Neji-nii-san a-around."

"…I'll try it! I'll try it as soon as we get back from the mission! Thanks a bunch, Hinata!" Tenten shook her hand vigorously and leaped away as happy as could be.

Hinata looked after her. _I couldn't tell her…_Hinata thought. _T-That she i-is j-just like N-Neji-nii-san…s-she won't apologize, either. T-That she's a-also stubborn in t-that way._

_At camp…_

"Uchiha…"

"Hyuga…"

"…" Tenten looked at the two of them.

"_Hold your corner better, will you? You're making the tent flop over._"

"_That's not me, Hyuga…that's you. Huh. I should have known that **you** couldn't put up a tent._"

"_I can—I can do it without your help, Uchiha—_"

"Okay! Well, aren't we happy! So I know that Neji likes to pitch tents in his spare time! And Sasuke likes to _make fires_ in his spare time! So I'll help Neji pitch the tent, and Sasuke will go help Sakura make the fire! And Hinata and Naruto will go and catch us some fish! Let's go, let's go!" Tenten pulled the two death-glaring boys apart and pushed Sasuke in the direction of the fire. Sasuke looked at her. Tenten looked back with a gaze that said, '_Sit, boy, or I'll make you pay dearly._' Sasuke turned away and went and squatted down next to Sakura and began rearranging the pile of wood.

"Neji, this is easy to do. Why didn't you guys just do it?" Tenten grabbed another side and in a poof, the tent was up.

"…" Neji was silent. Tenten sighed.

"Be that way." Tenten turned and walked away. Neji looked after her.

Tenten walked through the forest, making sure she still had clear sight of the campfire Sasuke had just made with a fireball. She sighed and continued to walk.

Then—something whistled by her ear. Tenten, by reflex action, jumped out of the way and looked at what had been thrown at her. Her eyes widened. It was a kunai…with an explosive tag wrapped around the handle. She leapt away as fast as possible as it exploded. She had to keep moving backward even after the tag had exploded, to avoid falling trees and branches.

Tenten stopped on a tree branch and reached into her weapons pouch, pulling out a kunai. It was inevitable that the others had seen that explosion, and heard it—she wasn't too far from camp. But locating the enemy came first. Tenten heard a crackle of leaves behind her, to the left. She jumped up and immediately threw the kunai in the direction of the noise.

A blur, and on the branch opposite hers, there was a ninja, wearing a lot of black clothing. She couldn't even see the person's face. She reached into her pouch and took out several shuriken, throwing them at him with perfect accuracy.

The guy was slow, she realized. Due to that heavy black clothing or something. He looked around and then dropped to the ground, and the shuriken embedded themselves into the branch. Tenten smirked. Even if she was at a slight disadvantage because it was a forest area, she would certainly have an advantage if the guy was slow. She scanned the area, and then drew out a weapons scroll. The guy was on the ground now, speeding through the trees in the direction of the encampment. She sped after him in the trees, until he stopped near the forest edge. Tenten whipped out the scroll and bit her thumb, stroking it across the symbols, and grabbed the three-section staff that appeared. Locking it into its one-piece staff shape, she moved around and then jumped down, twirling the staff and giving her attacker a hard and solid strike to the stomach. The attacker disappeared it a poof of smoke.

"The Body Replacement Technique!" Tenten turned around, and jumped back, narrowly avoiding a rain of weapons. She immediately found the location of the attacker, and smiled, reaching into her weapons pouch and threw several kunai, which embedded themselves at the branch the man was standing on.

"And, yes, I didn't miss," Tenten whispered to herself. The man's eyes widened and he back-flipped down as the branch exploded. He started shooting away through the forest. Tenten thought about pursuing him, but thought better of it.

"Tenten?" Tenten looked around. Neji, Sakura, and Sasuke were standing there, and Hinata and Naruto were rushing towards her.

"Eh—eh—" Tenten grinned. "I was attacked. Ha, ha, ha…"

"_Attacked?_" Sakura said loudly. "You're laughing about that? Was the guy good? Did you get hurt?"

"Not a scratch—the guy was pitifully slow," Tenten said, still grinning. "Except he got away—he was only fast in running away."

"…running away?" Neji looked at her. Then the corners of his mouth twitched up into something of a slight smile. He patted her shoulder.

"Why did he attack you?" Sasuke asked dully.

"I dunno," Tenten shrugged. "I think that he might have been after us all, but decided to take me first because I was apart from the rest of the group."

"Because we're Konoha ninja?" Sakura asked.

"Or maybe it has something to do with the mission." Neji said.

"I agree," Tenten said. "We should ask the guy when we get to Sea Country."

"HEY! _HEY! GUYS! I SAW A BIG EXPLOSION! WHAT HAPPENED? DID SASUKE MESS UP ON HIS FIREBALL?_"

Tenten, Neji, Sasuke and Sakura sighed.

_With Temari and Lee…_

"Oh, this is so youthful, sneaking around to make the world more youthful!" Lee whispered joyously.

"Be quiet. We're _sneaking_—when we _sneak_, we be quiet, so that we won't be caught _sneaking_. That is the point of _sneaking_."

"YES!" Lee cried.

Temari sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. She took out a strip of cloth, and said to Lee, "See, Lee. This is a very youthful piece of cloth. If you tie it around your mouth and breathe _very silently_ through your nose, you will be more youthful."

"YOSH!" Lee took the piece of cloth and tied it around his mouth as Temari peeked around the corner of the building.

"Yes. HE'S THERE…HE'S THERE…OH, YES, HE IS TALKING TO TSUNADE…"

"Oh, yes! How youthful of you, Temari-chan!"

"Be quiet! And don't call me Temari-chan, you—"

"What are you guys doing here?"

"EH???" Temari and Lee turned around to see Shikamaru standing there.

"You're being really loud. What are you doing there?"

"Eh—uh—I—GOTTA GO!" Temari grabbed Lee's hand and they sped away at the speed of light.

Shikamaru looked after them. "Are they dating?" _I wonder what their kids would look like,_ he thought. _Big eyebrows and weird eyelashes—spiky blond hair—would they get Gaara's eyes? Would they inherit their love for purple makeup from their uncle Kankurou? And what about green spandex?_ His eyes widened. "MAKE IT STOP!" he screamed. "BAD MENTAL IMAGES! BAD MENTAL IMAGES!"

Tsunade looked at him. "…?"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Six: Missing Client! Shikamaru's Flight!

"Sea Country!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"…" Hinata smiled shyly at him. Sakura looked around.

"Where's our client?" she asked. "Tsunade-sama said that he'd meet us on the docks—where is he?"

"Maybe late," Tenten suggested. The response was a cold-eyed glare. "Uh, that's just what I thought…" Tenten looked away quickly.

"Late…" Neji checked the sun's position. "It's a little after noon. He said he would meet us at noon—late is probably a logical suggestion."

"So, uh, you know the guy's late, right?! Which means we have time to go and eat somewhere! I'm starving!" Naruto said happily. Sakura pounded him on the head.

"_Naruto!_" she said angrily.

"Well, we missed breakfast 'cause we were in such a hurry to move on…" Naruto whined.

"_STUPID!_ If we go and eat somewhere, we might miss our appointment—plus, that would also delay our travel time to Tea Country! Tsunade-sama said that we should 'aim for good service!'"

"Granny Tsunade said that?" Naruto said slowly. "You know, that sounds like we work at a grocery store and they say that they should aim for good service with customers so they buy more…and they say 'Have a good day!' when you leave."

"_Baka,_" Sakura and Sasuke said with feeling.

"…" Hinata looked questioningly at Naruto. Neji and Tenten eyed him with twitching eyes.

"…how creative," Tenten said at last.

"…hn…" Neji turned away, and came face to face with their client.

"Hello!" cried the client enthusiastically.

"…hi, peppy…" Naruto muttered. Sakura hit him on the head again. Hinata let out a little gasp and went and started looking at the two large bumps on Naruto's head.

"You're late," Sasuke said dully.

"I _know!_ Exactly fifteen minutes and thirteen seconds! And I am very sorry!"

"How in the world did Tsunade-sama manage an arrangement with this guy…?" Tenten muttered.

Neji, who didn't dare say this aloud, thought to himself, _This guy is so annoying he's more annoying than Naruto. That happiness—that gleefulness—and that **grin**—and that **annoying face**…_but Neji's face remained as stoic as ever.

"That's…good," Sakura said. "Is there anything you have to do before we leave?"

"…" the guy's eyes widened. He blushed. He was at Sakura's side in an instant.

"Beautiful lady," the guy bowed. Then he took Sakura's hand and kissed it. Everyone's eyes twitched. Sakura's eyes were as large as bowling balls. The guy was still looking at Sakura's eyes with a freak smile on his face.

"I've got something for this." Tenten reached into her weapons pouch and drew out a balloon, blew it up as large as possible, tied the end up, walked up to the guy, put the balloon right in his face, and stabbed a needle into it. **_BAM!_**

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!_**" the guy cried.

"Tenten!" Sakura said.

"Tenten…" Neji said.

"…hn…" Sasuke said.

"…" Hinata shyly played with her fingers.

"RIGHT! GO TENTEN!" Naruto cried.

"I AM VERY SORRY!" the guy cried. "It was just—It was just—I was so stricken by this beautiful lady's great beauty I was stunned—"

"Forget it. Let's get moving." Tenten grabbed the guy's collar and began to drag him away in the direction of the Tea Country. The rest looked at each other and followed.

_With Temari and Lee…_

"Right. Lee—that incident back there was all your fault. Now you are going to be quiet with your youthful scrap of cloth while I spy—watch—yeah, watch Shikamaru and Ino on their…something-something date."

"OKAY!" Lee cried enthusiastically. Temari looked at him before bashing him on the head with her fan.

"_Shut up!_" she whispered.

"MMPH!" Lee said muffled, tying his cloth around his face.

"Good." Temari turned and peeked around the corner of the building. There were Shikamaru and Ino—Ino was chattering endlessly and Shikamaru—he was—well, you couldn't really tell it was Shikamaru behind the piles of bags and boxes he was carrying.

"…troublesome woman…" Shikamaru said with annoyance.

"Jeez, Shikamaru! Don't complain so much! After all, you did force me to carry my purse. It's only gentlemanly to offer to carry a young lady's bags!"

"…young hag…" Shikamaru whispered under his breath.

"_WHAT DID YOU SAY, SHIKAMARU?!_"

"Uh, troublesome day, isn't it?" Shikamaru said quickly. "You know what, I think today is a good day, to, uh, talk about a lot of troublesomely random stuff! Did you know that Naruto might stop going after Sakura and go after Hinata? That's what I've heard! And, uh, that—uh, Neji is having a secret relationship, uh, with Tenten? And I've also heard that, um…" Shikamaru thought. "I—uh…"

"_OHMYGOSH! I'VE HEARD THAT TOO!_" Ino cried in joy.

Shikamaru sighed. At least he'd had a lot of practice changing the subject, with having Ino as a childhood friend as well as a teammate.

"Did you know that Hinata has a _huge_ crush on Naruto? I think they'd be so cute together!" Ino cried giddily. "And Neji—well—I think that Tenten is much better suited for him than Sasuke! Actually, Sasuke should have been mine! Did you know that Sasuke is the gr—"

"INO-SAN! IT IS NOT YOUTHFUL TO TALK ABOUT OTHER GUYS WHEN YOU ARE WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND! AND SASUKE IS NOT GREAT! I AM MUCH MORE YOUTHFUL THAN H—"

Temari had already clapped a hand over Lee's mouth and was dragging him to meet Ino and Shikamaru.

"Uh, sorry, Ino, Shikamaru…" Temari said. "It's just—Lee and I—"

Shikamaru froze. He dropped his load. He stared with wide eyes at Lee and Temari. Shikamaru grabbed his head and started to run away as fast as lightning, shrieking,

"**_MY EYES! MY EYES! THEY BURN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! BABIES—BLOND MUSHROOM-CUT SPANDEX-WEARING FAN-WIELDING TAIJUTSU USER PURPLE MAKEUP MASCARA EYES BIG EYEBROWS AND EYELASHES! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE THE HORRIBLE MENTAL IMAGES STOP!_**"

Temari stared after Shikamaru, then realized that this was her chance. She had approximately five minutes before Ino realized what was going on, went freakishly insane, and ran after him. She had to buy the time that Shikamaru needed to get away from Ino.

"So, uh, INO! OH MY GOSH!" Temari cried, faking the hyper girl tone. "YOU KNOW, I've heard about those things too! And did you know that, uh, that store down the street has a sale on _shoes_? And they're dirt cheap! And not to mention their five sizes too large for either of us! You know what—I think that we should go buy some now! And then get makeovers! And then—uh—we should go buy _clothes_! Lots of clothes! For no particular reason at all!"

"OH, YES!" Ino cried happily.

"Lee will carry the bags and stuff, won't you?"

"OH, YES!" Lee cried. "IF I CANNOT CARRY 1000 POUNDS OF BAGS AND STUFF, I WILL BUY 2000 POUNDS OF SHOES! AND IF I CANNOT BUY 2000 POUNDS OF SHOES, I WILL BUY 3000 POUNDS OF CLOTHES! IF I CANNOT BUY 3000 POUNDS OF CLOTHES, I WILL, uh, GET 4000 POUNDS OF MAKEUP DURING A MAKEOVER!"

_With the mission…_

"So, Sakura-chan, I, uh, what do you like to do?"

"I'm a medical ninja," Sakura replied, sweatdropping at the guy's attempts at conversation.

"That's so wonderful!" the guy cried. His name was…well, let's call him John for now. Not saying that's his real name.

"Right." Sakura said. "Also, at the age of eight, I began to have a _crush_ on Uchiha Sasuke, the guy right _there_." She pointed at Sasuke, who was standing next to Naruto and Hinata. Neji and Tenten brought up the back. "And I am currently _dating_ a guy—Lee."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said. His eyes were tearing. Yes, yes, he was very heartbroken when he heard that Sakura was dating Lee. Hinata patted his shoulder.

"C-crush…d-dating…" the guy said. He sounded disappointed. Tenten sighed before picking another balloon from her pocket and popping it next to the guy's face.

"I'M VERY SORRY—I ZONED OUT FOR A MOMENT!" John said. He looked at Sakura. "So, um, that guy—the one you're dating—he must be awesomely cool!"

Sakura looked at him. "No, not really. He's a green-spandex wearing, thick eyebrows, mushroom-cut guy who can only do taijutsu."

John stared at Sakura with wide eyes. His mind was slowly working this out.

"But, uh, Lee's a good guy," Tenten said quickly. "We should know. We're his teammates." She indicated Neji and herself.

"Yeah, too bad he didn't come with us! You could've met him! But he got severely injured!" Naruto said. Tenten felt guilty.

"I'm sorry to hear that," John said to Sakura.

"Huh, ye—" Sakura stopped.

Sasuke had already stopped, and Neji and Tenten. Hinata paused, and Naruto, seeing everyone stop, stopped too.

"WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE STOPPING WE SHOULD GET MOVING BECAUSE THE SOONER THIS VERY BORING and…" Naruto sniffed. "HURTFUL MISSION ENDS, THE BETTER!"

"Naruto, you idiot," Sasuke said, and pushed him. Naruto fell to the ground right on his bottom, and started yelling,

"SASUKE YOU BAKA YOU SUPER BAKA WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"I'll accept that as a thank you. I'll put this in simple terms for you…You idiot Naruto. You're too busy screaming your head off you didn't notice _shiny, sharp_ objects flying out at you." Naruto looked at the ground. It was true. A couple of shiny shuriken lay there. His eyes widened.

Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke ran in formation around, uh, John. Neji made a few hand signs and activated the Byakugan, scanning the area.

"Tenten! To your right."

"Roger." Tenten leapt upward and immediately spotted her adversary, whipping out several shuriken and throwing them.

Her opponent dodged swiftly, and several more appeared out of the trees. Neji was able to defeat most of them using Gentle Fist before they had time to blink. Tenten took care of the rest with a couple well-aimed kunai.

Several more jumped out of the trees, aiming straight for the defense circle around, uh, John (I feel so awkward whenever I say _John._ It, uh, isn't very Japanese-sounding.) Naruto moved out and put his hands into a hand sign.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_"

Five Narutos appeared, all of them attacking the enemy ninja. Unfortunately, they vanished in poofs of smoke once they took a hit. Sasuke made a few hand signs and blew a fireball at them—they retreated back into the shadows.

And suddenly, there were dozens—hundreds of enemies surrounding them—and they all looked the same.

"NO WAY!" Naruto yelled. Now, all of them were separated—it was impossible to tell where anyone was in the jumble. Tenten and Neji were back-to-back—and that's when Neji noticed something.

"Huh? Neji?" Tenten asked. She felt Neji but his kunai away, walk up to one of the enemies (the guy was snarling ferociously) and gave him a swift kick to the side. He vanished in a poof of smoke.

"Illusions!" Tenten said angrily. She eyed the ground. "That's how you could tell—no shadows."

"ILLUSIONS?!" Naruto asked loudly.

"Yeah, idiot," Sasuke said dully.

And pretty soon, all the illusions had vanished in a single puff of smoke. The teams regrouped.

"Were those—the same people who attacked you, Tenten?" Sakura asked.

"No." Tenten shook her head. "They looked the same—but…" she paused. "The guy I fought was really slow. At least these guys had minimal speed."

"But what—" Sakura said.

"I-I think t-that we h-have m-more t-to worry a-about," Hinata stammered guiltily.

"Huh? Like what? What's more important than finding the guys who were trying to attack our client?"

"U-Um…" Hinata stopped. "Our—our c-client—h-he disappeared."

"**_WHAT!?_**" Naruto cried. He looked around.

"You're right. He's gone." Tenten said.

"But—we really shouldn't worry about him," Sasuke said.

"Why not?" Tenten asked.

"Look." Sasuke pointed at the hill they were walking on, at the shuriken that had been thrown first.

"Yeah, what about it? Shuriken," Naruto said.

"Yes, but look at the angle," Neji said.

"The angle…" Tenten bent down and looked at it. "…no way…"

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"Come take a look at this!"

"What? They're just shuriken," Naruto replied.

"YOU BAKA, NARUTO! THE CLUES ARE GETTING SHOVED IN YOUR FACE! LOOK HARDER!" Sakura said.

"I don't see anything."

"AAGGGHHH!!!" Sakura cried in frustration. Tenten sighed.

"U-Um, N-Naruto-k-kun…w-what they m-mean about the a-angle…"

"The angle!" Tenten pointed. "At this angle, it _couldn't_ have been thrown from the trees! Then it wouldn't been at a slight diagonal. This—" she pointed. "We're on a steep hill. This throw signifies that this was thrown by approximately that position over there." She pointed a little further down the hill.

"Yes. Which means…" Neji began. Naruto waited expectantly, though in his mind he already knew the answer.

"…that these shuriken were thrown by none other…than our dear client," Tenten finished.

_With Shikamaru…_

"Coming! Coming!" Kankurou said with annoyance. Gaara got up as well and the two brothers went to the door. Kankurou opened it.

"Hello, troublesome relatives of the troublesome woman," Shikamaru said.

"Uh…hi. Do you know where Temari is? She's awfully late—it couldn't have taken her this long," Kankurou said.

"…she is in Konoha, dating Lee. I have run away as fast as my legs can carry me to try and escape the thoughts of blond, mushroom-cut, green-spandex wearing, taijutsu using, fan wielding, purple makeup wearing, mascara eye, big eyebrow and weird eyelash babies."

Kankurou and Gaara stared at the sweating Shikamaru with eyes as large as basketballs. Then they shut the door in his face.

"_HEY! TROUBLESOME PEOPLE—HEY!_"

Author's Note: I'm sorry the fight scene was short, for people who like that stuff. But since this was put in the Romance/Humor section, I decided that this shouldn't really be Action/Adventure. So that is why this chapter was sort of rushed. Also partially because I didn't want it to be too long. But I think I made it a tad too short. Also, for those who think that there will be no fluff during this mission, I assure you, there will be NejiXTenten moments. As much as I can squeeze in.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Seven: Things Heat Up! Shikamaru's New Servant

"But why would our client do something like that?" Naruto asked.

"…simple. Konoha has a lot of enemies—probably part of some plot, like to use us as hostages, or to steadily deplete Konoha's military force…" Tenten said.

"I see…but what can we do? Go back to Konoha and tell Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked.

"…the most intelligent thing to do. Since this mission was a badly set trap, there is no reason to continue it…"

"_WE SHOULD GO AFTER THEM!_"

Neji glared Naruto into silence. "As I was saying, even if we were to go after them, would be rash and obviously ending badly, we wouldn't have any leads."

"I agree. If Tsunade-sama wants to continue this, she can send a team of tracker ninja or something, or ANBU," Tenten agreed.

Sasuke nodded. Sakura looked at Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto…overruled."

Naruto scowled and began to sulk. Hinata patted his shoulder.

"Well, let's get going." The team sped away.

_With Shikamaru…_

"We're still not letting you in." Kankuro said. "Leave us."

"…office…" Gaara muttered. "…Kazekage…humiliating…hiding…"

"_Let me in already, you troublesome people!_"

"We're not letting you in! After all—you got some girl pregnant! Poor girl! And—and somehow the baby has characteristics of Gaara, Temari, that spandex-guy, and I!"

"…troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed. "I was talking about Temari. She's hanging out with this guy, and I think that they have babies. Troublesome babies—lots of troublesome babies—and that guy—he has a girlfriend—Haruno Sakura, from the Chuunin Exams, you remember her. And besides, I have a girlfriend. A very troublesome one. And that guy—he's super excited, you see—and a bit out of the head, so…wouldn't be surprising, if you ask me…"

"_…what…?!_" Gaara swung the door open. Sand was leaking out of his gourd and he had a crazy look in his eyes. Shikamaru backed away. Gaara turned to Kankuro.

"…Konoha…you…Kazekage…" Kankuro nodded. Gaara turned and walked swiftly away.

"You can interpret those…incomplete sentences?"

"Yeah." Kankuro said. "He meant that he was going to Konoha and he wanted me to be Kazekage temporarily, which is sweet for me." Shikamaru looked at him.

"Aren't you worried about your sister, too?"

"If Gaara takes care of it, I don't have to." Kankuro shrugged. "Anyway, yeah, he's been like that ever since his vocal cords got damaged when Temari made him repeat 'I am a good little cute bloody boy,' ten thousand times. I got 'I am a weird thing,' so it wasn't as harsh."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "…um…yeah…that's good…you know, I'm surprised he still cares…"

"Yeah. Well, Gaara's—you know what, I don't know. It might be that he doesn't want more family. Or he doesn't want to be an uncle—maybe it'd make him feel old. And the fact that Temari is underage also comes in."

"That's nice. Let me in."

Kankuro stared at Shikamaru. "Why? My house. I'm Kazekage. Get out of Suna." He stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru.

"…immature. Anyway, let me in."

"NO! If Gaara or Temari ordered me, maybe…" Kankuro thought a bit. His mental image was sort of this: Gaara and Temari whacking him with hammers and a smug Shikamaru standing by. "…but I have the power here! I can do what I want!"

"…" Shikamaru sighed. "So it comes to this…" he reached into his weapons pouch and took out a blank scroll, and a pencil, and sketched something out. Then he showed it to Kankuro, who gasped in horror.

It was a baby—with blond hair that jutted out a little but matted down with a lot of hair gel, and a little pink hat tied on messily. And big thick eyebrows that looked like black caterpillars over large aqua eyes that looked as if coated with mascara around the edges that he knew all too well, but with large eyelashes. With purple makeup smothered all over it. And then a rattle and muscular arms and legs—and a fan—and a green spandex suit with orange weights. Not to mention those familiar eyes looked very evil. And a chibi Kankuro, crying and screaming in terror. And a chibi Shikamaru, with a crib and a bottle of poison.

"If you are too stupid to understand," Shikamaru said, "it means that if Gaara fails, it means your makeup will all be stolen and used by these things, and I am your only savior, which means you should kiss up to me. I am your only ally in harsh times."

"_Shikamaru-sama!_" Kankuro bent and kissed Shikamaru's feet. "Please, Shikamaru-sama, come in! Come in! I was dazzled by your wonderful…drawing!"

"That's more like it. And it's Nara-sama."

"_Of course, Nara-sama!_"

_With the mission team…_

"Neji. Do you hear anything?"

"…yes."

"I thought so." Tenten and Neji stopped, and Hinata and Sakura behind them stopped as well. Sasuke noticed and stopped, grabbing Naruto's collar and made him stop, though successfully choking him.

"GGGGGGGGGGYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Naruto cried.

"…" Neji and Hinata made a few hand signs and activated the Byakugan, and scanned the area. Their eyes widened, but they didn't even have a chance to alert their comrades before the exploding notes over all the tree trunks exploded.

_With Temari, Lee, and Ino…_

"Oh my gosh, girlfriend!" Ino cried giddily. "I am, like, so beautiful!"

Temari sweatdropped. She was actually frantically trying to wash away the makeup with her sweat and tears. Lee was carrying a lot of bags, many his own, and he was covered in makeup, more so than she. Temari certainly hoped that she had bought Shikamaru enough time—she was about to go crazy.

"What language is Ino-san speaking?" Lee asked behind his bag-wall.

"…I dunno. I think it is gibberish."

"Now, like, let's go diet!"

Temari stared at Ino, not understanding.

"Diet?"

"Oh, yes!" Ino cried again, more happy than ever. "Boys _love thin girls!_"

Temari thought about this. Boys she knewGaara. He didn't like girls at all—why would he like thin ones? Kankuro. He was a total freak. She had even made him repeat it, he was such a freak. Shikamaru. He liked clouds, not girls. He'd go for anyone that wasn't troublesome, she supposed. Lee. He would go for anyone youthful and beautiful. She strained to think of someone else. That Neji guy she met a few days ago—she didn't know _anything_ about that guy…

"I'm not sure—"

"_…Temari…_"

Temari stopped she recognized that voice. She turned. Gaara stood there. He was flaming.

"_…Temari…you…seen…_" he paused. "_…youthful guy…you…seen…_"

"…" Temari looked at him and her eye twitched. She supposed that her sweat and tears had not washed all the makeup off. She grabbed a bottle of water from somewhere and poured it over her head and rubbed her face on her sleeve.

"_IT IS ME, GAARA!_"

"…oh…" he looked at you. "…youthful guy…where…"

"Lee?" Temari turned and pointed to Lee.

"…" Gaara looked at Lee. His eyes were flaming. "…babies…you…time to die…"

Temari's eyes widened. "WAIT!" she said loudly. "Um, um, Lee hasn't done anything—you know, really, uh—" she thought. Babies? What was he talking about? Lee's babies? Did he somehow think that um, Lee got her pregnant? She did recall Shikamaru screaming something or other about babies—she had to think. She looked over at Ino. Maybe she could kill two birds with one stone. "Um, Gaara—_LEE DID NOT GET ME PREGNANT IT WAS INO THAT GIRL OVER THERE THAT GOT ME PREGNANT! SHE'S REALLY A MAN!_"

"_HUH?!_" Ino cried. Gaara turned to her. Then he walked over, snatched her collar, and dragged her off to his evil lair…

_With Tenten…_

Tenten woke up and felt sore, for one. Her vision was blurry and she could hardly see anything. She slowly pushed herself up from where she was lying on the ground. How did she survive the blast? And where were the others? And this place was familiar—it was dark, and dank, and smelled something like Kiba and Akamaru after not bathing for several days. The light was dim and she could hardly see. She got up weakly and stumbled forward, groping in the darkness.

_With Neji…_

Neji's senses were fully on the alert, and he was silently scolding himself for allowing himself to get into such a situation. The explosion had been large—but seeing as he wasn't dead, it would seem that the attackers had at least wanted him alive. His eyes darted around. He didn't sense any presences—he walked forward.

_With Sasuke…_

Sasuke looked up. "Who are you?" he asked slowly. His head still ached—ached a lot. A woman stood there. She looked slightly amused.

"Wouldn't you like to know." And Sasuke felt a slight shock through his body, just a slight one, but it made the hairs on the back of his neck crackle. "But you don't need to know, do you? Especially not if you're going to _die._"

_With Hinata…_

Hinata woke up, slightly dazed, and then wobbled upward. Sakura was sitting by her, and Hinata noticed that their clothes were slightly charred.

"What happened?" she asked.

"…exploding notes all over the trees—one huge explosion. I was farthest from the exploding notes, and I grabbed you and we managed to escape the explosion—I don't know what happened to the others."

Hinata stopped. "O-Oh." She looked at her feet. "U-Um, y-you stay h-here and r-rest. I'll l-look at the a-area of the explosion."

"Thanks." Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. Hinata sped off in the direction of the explosion, and stopped on the ground. There was black dust everywhere. She looked around—there were no bodies. She was relieved—even if the explosion was large, it shouldn't have destroyed the bodies. If her teammates were dead, their bodies would be here, unless disposed by the enemies. She stopped when she caught sight of something. She gasped and rushed over to it. Naruto's body. He was lying there and his orange suit was covered in dust.

"N-Naruto-k-kun…"

"…Hinata…?" Naruto's eyes opened. She gasped again in happiness. Alive!" Naruto sat up. "Huh? I was dreaming I was having the best bowl of ramen…"

Hinata sweatdropped. He wasn't dead. He had been sleeping.

"Hinata, what happened?"

"A l-large e-explosion. S-Sakura is o-over there." She pointed. "B-But I don't k-know where the others are."

"Eh?!"

"W-What h-happened t-to you? H-How did you survive?"

"Hm…I think it's because that baka, Sasuke, went and grabbed my collar, but when he noticed the exploding tags he let go, and I went and tumbled down and fell and lost consciousness—then I think I avoided the blast because the tags were all in the upper tree trunks and branches." Naruto smiled. "I'm pretty lucky, huh?"

"…y-yes." Hinata helped Naruto up. "W-We should g-go to S-Sakura n-now and sort o-out the si-situation…"

"…um…not possible…"

Hinata turned. And saw that they were surrounded by enemies—and not illusions this time, either.

_With Kankuro and Shikamaru…_

"Nara-sama, here is your tea!"

Shikamaru looked at Kankuro, holding a cup of tea and a teapot. He reached up and pushed the teapot over. Steaming hot tea splashed all over Kankuro. He screamed in pain.

"**_AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! NARA-SAMA, YOU ARE SO CRUEL! AND CLUMSY! I MEAN, NO, NO, YOU ARE WONDERFUL AND GRACEFUL! WAIT, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GIRL'S COMPLIMENT—AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! THE TEA! IT BURNS!_**"

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the clouds, resuming his cloud-watching. _I could get used to this…_

_With Tenten…_

Tenten walked forward, then stiffened, feeling someone's presence. She reached into her weapons pouch and took out several kunai, readying herself in case of an enemy. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Neji!" she said, surprised. "Are you okay? Where are the others."

"I'm fine. The others, though—they're dead."

Tenten stopped. "D-Dead?" she said. "But—it can't be…"

"I'm sorry, Tenten."

"I see…" Tenten said slowly. Her heart was beating frantically.

"But more importantly, are you okay?" Neji stepped forward.

Tenten looked up. _Neji—worried? Concerned...?_

Neji stepped forward again. "Tenten…" Tenten backed up. Then she felt behind her. A wall. She was backed up against a wall. Neji was closer. And there was something in his eyes—something in his eyes that she didn't like.

_With Neji…_

Neji stopped. There was light now, blinding light. He covered his eyes and squinted until they adjusted, and then saw a man standing in the shadows. He was in the spotlight.

"…" Neji cautiously put a step backward and reached for his weapons pouch.

The man looked smug. Neji then suddenly recognized the man as their client.

"So you were behind this after all," Neji said with annoyance.

"Indeed." The man reached up and bit his thumb, then put his hand palm down on the floor. "Summoning Technique!" A copy of the contract spread out on the floor, and there was a puff of smoke.

And he saw something there—something like an extremely large worm. His eyes widened and he felt the worm's hot and ghastly breath as the mouth, or a hole in one side of the worm's body, opened, and closed around him and he was swallowed whole.

Neji squirmed around in the passage that was most likely the worm's esophagus, or something like that. He could feel the hot stomach acid already, and he was coated with the worm's internal liquids.

This mission was not going as he had hoped.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Eight: And Happily Ever After! (Or not…)

Neji moved around, and tried to keep his heart from beating fast. It was just that—he had never been a very large thing's meal before. He calmed himself and managed to get a little farther away from the worm's stomach acids. Once he was satisfied he wouldn't be digested anytime soon, he planted his feet on the ever squirming outline of the esophagus and tried to think of something.

_This is a problem…_

"Hey. Kid? Digested yet?"

_I can hear his voice._ Making calculations in his head, due to the volume of the voice, he now knew how much matter was between himself and the outside. This could be useful.

"Heh. I never knew Konoha ninja to be so pathetic—for example, that girl with the buns and the pink shirt. Wouldn't you like to know what's happening to her now."

_Tenten?!_ Neji's eyes widened. He didn't honestly think anything was happening to Tenten. But if he was caught in this mess—what was happening to her? Torture? He couldn't think of it. He looked around, thinking fast. He predicted having about five minutes until he was digested. That was enough time—he thought. And then he wouldn't know how much time until Tenten was—well, he didn't know what was happening to her. He had to save her quickly.

Making a couple handsigns, he activated the Byakugan, he looked around. There was chakra circulating throughout the being—and as he predicted, there were several layers of matter before he reached the surface. This was going to be difficult—but he had to try it. Focusing much of his chakra to his right hand, he drew it back and tried to get as much of a foothold as he could and then, with all his strength, punched straight through the worm. The chakra broke right through—success.

He got out as gracefully as he could manage, and the summoning disappeared. He was now facing off against that guy.

"Heh." Neji stopped in his tracks. The guy was laughing. And he felt stiff. He looked down. The goo that covered him was hardening, like a cocoon.

"You won't escape that."

This was simple. He focused his chakra, and broke through the hardened gunk. He was slightly grateful that it had done that, which was preferable, because he hadn't really wanted to go around some hideout covered in spit of a giant worm. He rushed forward and leaned his left hand down. His hands hit the first two chakra points. Four points. Eight points. Sixteen points. Thirty-two points…sixty-four points.

The man fell to the floor, unable to move. Neji thought about killing him, but thought better of it and decided he was pretty harmless now, and sped off in search of Tenten.

And he did find her without much difficulty. Lying on the ground and her eyes blank.

_With Sasuke…_

_What was that?_ Sasuke thought. The shock—well, it had been strange, not lethal or even dangerous in the least. He straightened, and closed his eyes, about to activate the Sharingan. When he opened them, however, his vision was the same.

Sasuke tried again. However, his pinwheel eyes did not activate.

"Like it?" the woman cackled. Sasuke thought it was quite like a crow—not very attractive at all. She smiled.

"I sent negative static charges to block the nerves temporarily. Your chakra won't work—you have it, it's there, but it's useless."

_I see._ Sasuke eyed the woman. _Well, this isn't the time to beg or plead for mercy. But—this technique will only work if she has enough chakra to send the charges—I suspect that this is never permanent. But—_Sasuke sighed. _This will be…troublesome. After all, I'm not as much as a taijutsu master as Lee, which would be the only kind that is only slightly affected by this._

He looked up. "Your immaturity shocks me," he said finally. Honestly, he couldn't think of anything else wittier to say.

"Hmph." The woman looked away. Sasuke sighed. He looked down at himself. Electricity was crackling and sparking around him. This oddly reminded him…him of…of…

_Chidori._

"Hn. I don't like you. I'll end this quickly, I think." The woman made several hand signs, and then placed her arms on either side of her, and even more electricity crackled around her arms. She then swung her arms directly in front of her, sending the charges straight at Sasuke. Sasuke smiled. His chance hadn't come too late.

Focusing chakra to his hand, he met the blast full on. However, he drew the charges into his own hand and made them his own weapon—Chidori. Grabbing his wrist, he charged at the woman and sent her flying.

"Hn." Sasuke stopped and then looked around, then struggled off to find the others.

_With Tenten…_

"You're concerned. How…sweet," Tenten said weakly. She didn't like this—especially not the fact that they were _very_ close.

"Tenten. Did you know that I've always loved you?"

Tenten sighed. This was pushing it too far. _Oh, Tenten dearest, did you know I've always loved you, now and forever?_ This was _way_ too sappy for anything Neji would do.

"Oh, Neji-kun, I've loved you too! But did you know love always ends painfully? And did you know that that really bad line is what gave you away? If Neji went and confessed to someone, he would definitely not confess to me, and he would definitely have a better line, too. And Neji doesn't have that _look_ in his eyes. And he's not a pervert." Tenten spun one of the kunai in her hand and stabbed it right in the cold heart of the fake Neji-_kun_.

_With Neji…_

Neji made a hand sign. "Release!" nothing happened. He looked at Tenten. She was still konked out. "It's not working."

_With Tenten…_

The person was materializing away…like dust. Tenten stood up. "Genjutsu!" she smirked and made a hand sign. "Release!"

Nothing happened. She supposed that this was too strong of a genjutsu for just an ordinary release. She gritted her teeth and took her kunai, and plunged it into her shoulder. It hurt—and then she was lying down with Neji kneeling over her. She jumped up.

"**_OW!_**"

"I wonder if self-inflicted injuries are the most painful…" Neji muttered. He got up and stepped forward and caught Tenten, helping her sit down again.

"T-Thanks." Tenten clutched her shoulder as the bloody kunai went skidding across the rough floor.

"Are you ready to travel?" Neji asked.

"…um, can we wait a bit? I want to tell you something," Tenten said.

Neji consented and sat down. "I suppose I need to tell you something, too."

"…you go first."

"No, no. You can go first."

"I'm fine! You go."

"Speak."

They blushed. "…um…" they turned away from each other. "…um…I'm sorry," Tenten said. "I apologize," Neji said.

They turned toward each other again.

"_What in the world are you apologizing for?!_" they shouted at each other simultaneously.

"_I'm apologizing because I got mad at you!_" Tenten shouted.

"_I'm apologizing because I messed in your business!_" Neji shouted.

They stopped, looked at each other, and looked away stubbornly.

"I'm sorry," Tenten said.

"I apologize," Neji said. "You can—I suppose you can go out with whomever you please."

"…" Tenten looked guiltily at the floor. "Well, I never really—never really liked Sasuke. He's nice enough, but really, he's a friend."

"…a friend?" Neji looked at her. "Then why did you go out with him?"

"…because of the free food?"

"Then why did you kiss him?"

"…" Tenten looked at him. She couldn't lie in this situation. "Er, to make you angry?"

"Why in the world did you want to make me angry?"

"…because it was fun?"

"**_FUN?!_**" Neji thundered. "**_I WORRY OVER YOU AND THAT RELATIONSHIP WITH UCHIHA AND YOU SAY IT'S FUN?!_**"

"…maybe." Tenten cowered. She stopped. "You said…worried?"

Neji stopped. He turned a bright red and turned away. "Well, because you're my teammate…"

"I see." Tenten said. She got up. "Well, we—" she stopped again. Neji had grabbed her hand.

"…wait. I want you to promise me—I want you to promise me you'll stop going out with Uchiha if you don't really care about him."

"Why?"

"Because…because…" Neji hesitated. "He's not the one who cares about you the most."

"…who is it, then?"

"…" Neji paused. "…someone. You don't need to know."

Tenten sighed. She sat down. Then asked a totally unexpected question.

"Neji, what do you think of as an ideal girlfriend?"

"…" Neji stopped. Tenten thought for a moment that he would refuse to answer the question. Then he said, "…a companion. A very good companion. Someone you would care about and protect with your life. Nothing less."

Tenten smiled. "What do you think of me, Neji?"

Neji stopped, and turned to Tenten. "You know, don't you?"

Tenten laughed. "Hinata hinted about it, yes."

"…Hinata-sama…"

"You haven't answered my question."

"…I think of you as a very good companion. And I care about you. And I would…protect you."

"That's sweet." Tenten smiled again. Neji turned away and blushed. She looked cute when she smiled.

"Um…so…" Neji sounded as shy as Hinata. "Would you…would you…be my…" he stopped. "…girlfriend?"

Tenten laughed. "Of _course_, Neji!" she lunged forward and hugged him.

And maybe, that day, the stoic prodigy's heart melted. Into a happy golden pool of _murky quicksand that Gaara used to suck people under and then squish._

Sorry. It's just that moment was getting so sappy that I needed to go and put something in it.

Neji turned, used Gentle Fist on the writer, then gently kissed Tenten. When they broke apart Tenten looked up at his face, and saw him smiling.

A smile just for her.

_With Shikamaru…_

"Shikamaru! You finally came back!" Temari said excitedly. "Where have you been?"

"I've been at your troublesome house."

Temari looked amused as Shikamaru came closer. He was being carried by Kankuro. Kankuro set Shikamaru down, then reached in his wallet and pulled out a lot, I repeat, a lot of money.

"I'll pay you if you date Nara-sama instead of that youthful guy so I don't have to be his slave anymore."

Temari looked at him. Then at Shikamaru. He shrugged.

"A well played game of shogi," he said. "A well played game."

_With the mission team…_

"All right!" Naruto cried. "That wasn't so hard! I got to do a lot of butt-kicking!"

"Y-You w-were v-very s-strong, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata mumbled.

"Naruto, your modesty shines," Sakura said sarcastically.

"…Sakura-ch—"

"Are you guys going to stand there all day, talking your heads off, or are you guys going to head back to Konoha?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said excitedly. He emerged out of the woods, and around five minutes later was followed by Neji and Tenten. They were holding hands.

"Sorry. We took a long time finding our way back," Tenten said apologetically.

"It's nothing—**_WAIT! YOU GUYS ARE HOLDING HANDS!_**" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah…" Tenten turned to Sasuke. "Uh, sorry—um, what do you say? 'I officially dump you,' or something?"

"You guys are finished. Over! You've been dumped, Sasuke! Hah!" Naruto yelled.

"You've been so shunned by any girls that you don't need to be dumped." Sasuke turned to Tenten. "That's okay. I never felt much attraction to you anyway."

"Then why did you ask me out?" Tenten asked, relieved that Sasuke hadn't really…fallen in love. Of course, Neji had. Why couldn't Sasuke?

"…our conversation earlier." Sasuke said. "We were talking about restoring the Uchiha clan. I went to a bookstore and asked on a book about babies. Kakashi-sensei was there and was going to give me one of those books he always reads, Icha Icha Paradise, but this lady gave me another book and I bought that one, and I read it. And it said that babies are dropped on your doorstep by storks. But I decided that you can only get a baby if you have a mate, so I decided that Tenten would be a good choice."

They all looked at him with wide eyes and mouths agape.

**_CHA! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE!_** Sakura rejoiced.

"You baka Sasuke! Everyone knows that storks can't carry babies! It's special courier ninja that carry the babies!"

Everyone looked at Naruto.

"…maybe this is for the best," Neji said. Tenten nodded.

"Anyway…" Neji cracked his knuckles. "You will sorely pay."

"I am _so_ happy."

So, this story does not contain the information as to who won that fight, but rest assured, Hinata probably went and stopped it before it could go anywhere or Naruto could get involved. And ah, this is how our story ends. I hope you enjoyed it.

Author's Note: If any are confused my Shikamaru's "shogi" game, I'll list the moves here. Though they may not make any sense at all.

Went out with Ino, primarily to make Temari jealous.

Pretended that he thought that she was going out with Lee to make her more jealous.

Pretended to not care about her going out with Lee to make her more jealous.

Ran to Suna to recruit help from her brothers.

Made her brother his personal slave to help him as a powerful ally.

Predicted that her brother would then bribe her into dating Shikamaru to stop his imprisonment.

Author's Note: Also, do not hate Ino, Sakura, or Sasuke for what I did to them in this fanfiction. Or Naruto. It just—had to be done. I am also sorry to all Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto lovers.

Again, Author's Note: I am unsure whether or not to continue this—that is why there is an (OR not…) on the chapter title. If people want me to continue, it shall, but that also means that Neji and Tenten's "Happily Ever After" will have to be postponed! Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: Sadly, the story no longer goes with the title…oh well, too late to change it. I was thinking of something really dramatic to go with the title, but it didn't fit. So…um, don't pay any attention to the title anymore, I suppose. Also, sorry for the delay…I was thinking about how to continue. Sorry!

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Nine: New Obstacles

"So—what's it like with your _boyfriend_?"

"_Ino!_" Tenten sighed. "You're so blunt…who told you?"

"Hinata."

"Jeez…she's growing up to be a little gossip girl…" Tenten looked at Hinata. Hinata smiled nervously.

"Anyway, I'm serious. How is it?"

"…we haven't gone on any dates yet."

"_What?!_"

"It's true." Tenten forked one of the little sandwiches Ino had made into her mouth, and chewed slowly. "He's so busy with training—he doesn't have time for an actual stable relationship, I guess. I don't think he's really serious…after all, the only times we see each other are at training and on the street. He seems troubled."

"Troubled?" Hinata asked. "…y-yes, he d-does seem a l-little…"

"_Agh!_ That makes me so _angry!_" Ino said. "He's just snagged you, and he just goes and puts you away in some dusty little drawer!"

"We're not newlyweds, Ino…" Tenten sweatdropped.

"Yeah, if he did that when you guys were newlyweds, that'd cause problems…"

"_Ino!_"

"What'd I say? What'd I say?"

_I can't believe it, talking about taking this to marrying already…_

_Well, of course you're gonna get married! Or not…but he is a catch, you know. Although my first love was a catch, and I didn't marry him…_

_I haven't seen you guys in a while. And also, **you can't marry! Flirty-self!**_

_U-Um, T-Tenten-chan…_

_**We can SO marry!** For example, I can marry cow-self here…_

_…isn't that lesbian?_

_Hey! Who puts the genders here?_

_Me. Because I'm a female, you are my other selves, which make you females too._

_…h-her argument is much better t-than yours, f-flirty self…_

_…_

_…s-she's sulking…_

"TENTEN!"

"EEEEEEEEYYAAAAAACCCCKKKKK!!!!!" Tenten jumped, then looked around.

"You blanked out for a second. You okay?" Ino asked.

"Fine, fine!" Tenten said. "Er, just thinking…"

"Thinkin' about your marriage? Can I be a bridesmaid?"

"_No! _I am not thinking about my marriage!"

"Which means you admit that you're going to be married! And to none other than your _booyyfrriiend!_" Ino sang.

"_Ino!_" Tenten said angrily. "Anyway, you're just saying that because you got dumped!"

"Dumped? Me? Dumped?! I didn't get dumped, no way—we just broke up! And if anyone got dumped, _I_ dumped _him!_ Shikamaru was never my type, anyway…"

Tenten stuck out her tongue at Ino. "No way. You got dumped—admit it. You got used. I heard they're happy. There's even rumors going around that they're secretly married and have several kids…"

"…" Hinata was silent with horror.

"I wasn't dumped! Nor used! I was bribed, I tell you, bribed, threatened!"

"…bribed? Threatened?"

"U-Um, S-Sakura-chan was there, when y-you w-we're on your f-first date…" Hinata mumbled. "Y-You weren't b-bribed."

"_I was threatened! Bribed! I wasn't dumped! I'm too beautiful to be dumped!_" Ino broke out in tears.

"W-Wait, s-sorry, I didn't mean it that way! Don't cry," Tenten said, trying to calm the hysteric Ino.

Sasuke watched the girls, hiding on a tree branch outside the window. Ino was still crying crazily, and Hinata and Tenten were still trying to soothe her.

"You haven't told her, have you?"

"Sakura. I was wondering why you weren't there with the others."

Sakura jumped onto the branch beside him. "I know…it's so obvious. You're hurt."

"…am not."

"Ha, ha. Crybaby." Sakura smiled fondly at him. "But I know. I know that…that Tenten's your first love. You have bad taste."

"…I don't have bad taste."

"You're not denying it!" Sakura punched him playfully in the shoulder. "When you guys went out—you liked her, don't say you don't still. She's your type of girl. You should get her while she and Neji aren't too serious yet."

"…what are you saying?" Sasuke eyed her suspiciously.

"…" Sakura looked down. "Well, I don't have much choice, now, do I?" she looked up. "I still like you a lot. Sasuke-kun's still my only love. But…" she looked down again. "If I oppose Tenten and you, you'll just hate me, right? So…all I can do…is support you." She pulled her knees up and hid her face. "Just support you…because…it's hard, having the one you love hate you."

"…" Sasuke looked at her.

"But now…_I'm gonna help you as much as I can, Sasuke-kun!_" she said enthusiastically. Sasuke nearly fell off the branch.

Tenten looked up. "What was that just now…?"

"Birds. Don't think too much about it," Ino said, finally calmed down.

Tenten chomped on a small sandwich as she headed back home. Ino had given her the leftovers, seeing as she wasn't much of a cook herself. She looked around.

_…everyone's talking. A big event, or something…?_

She looked around. It was true…everyone was talking excitedly.

"Hey, hey, Tenten!"

"Eh? Hey, Naruto," Tenten said, looking at the excited blond. "What's up?"

"Sorry about that…and you and Neji were just going out, too…"

"About what?"

"…eh?" Naruto looked at her. "Everyone's talking about it…you didn't know?"

"_Know about what, I said!_"

"…oh, oh!" Naruto said. He felt it wasn't a good idea to anger her, especially with her weapons pouch ringing with new weapons itching to be tried out. "Um…about that…"

"_WHAT?!_"

"…Hinata's dad is arranging an engagement for Neji, since he's nearing that age and stuff! It's the talk of Konoha! Er, uh, bye!" Naruto sped away.

Tenten was speechless. When she finally regained herself, she shouted to the sky,

"**_WHY IN THE WORLD DIDN'T NEJI TELL ME?!_**"

"The engagement was only being thought about, not arranged," Neji said. "A few girls from prestigious families were just talking to Hiashi-sama about it, that's all."

"But you didn't have a single thought in your head that said, '_Hey, punk! Maybe you should go and tell Tenten about this…_'"

_Actually I did…_Neji thought with annoyance.

_Told you so, **punk!**_

"I didn't think it was serious."

"…Neji. When you…have a relationship…or _something_ with someone, if you are getting _engaged_, or something like that, you should at least _tell that person!_ Lee knew, after all! And Gai-sensei!"

"…are you suggesting that I have a relationship with Lee or Gai-sensei?"

"…" Tenten stared at him. "Wow. Neji, what is wrong with your mind? Did you get any head injuries during a mission?"

"…I don't think so."

"_Neji is so dense,_" Tenten told a nearby person passing by.

"Only you could get away with that," said Shino, because that was who it happened to be, passing by.

"Tenten, are you taking our relationship seriously, suggesting that I have something with Lee or Gai?" Neji asked.

"_Me?_ _I'm_ taking this seriously—you aren't, or am I wrong?"

"Me? Why do you say that?"

"Because, for one—we haven't gone on any dates, we haven't met except for training or on the streets, even…one confession, one kiss, that's all."

"…what do couples do, then?"

"Well, for one—" Tenten looked at Shino. "And what are you doing??? _Private conversation_, here."

"Well, I'm not the one who pulled me into this conversation," Shino said back, _coolly._ "And I am also waiting for all the juicy details."

Tenten and Neji stared at him.

"Yo, Shino! Juicy details? I want to listen!" Kiba ran up. Akamaru barked.

"At this rate, all of Konoha will be listening to our conversation…" Tenten sighed. The two began to walk away. Then, once out of sight, ran away as fast as possible.

"I wonder if Shino is really a huge pervert…" Tenten said with fear in her voice. "You wouldn't be able to tell if he was checking out some girl…he wears huge glasses…"

"If he lays one of his insects on you he will not live to tell the tale," Neji replied stoically.

"I'm not worried about me! I'm worried about Hinata, who's on his team, and Sakura—and Ino…and—" she looked at Neji. "You're worried about me?"

"Perhaps." Neji looked a little embarrassed.

"A-Ahem, anyway…" Tenten said, changing the subject, "Er, couples…well, they act more personal…like hanging out, and stuff…"

"I…see…" Neji looked at her. "Well, you are aware of the fact that I am busy enough with training."

"…training." Tenten looked at him angrily. "Fine! You go off with that Hiashi-sama of yours, and train your hearts out…for all _I_ know, you're having…an affair with _him_!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Tenten, you—"

She was already gone.

"_Ooh_, that idiot Neji! Does he value training over everything? Of course. Training is his _life_. Like Gai-sensei is Lee's life. And Lee is Gai-sensei's life. _They have no lives at all!_" she said, mentally cursing all of her teammates although the only one she was mad at was Neji. _What idiots!_

"…" Tenten looked hard at her feet. It didn't matter. It wasn't actually as if they were a _couple_ yet.

"Tenten." She looked up. Sasuke was standing there.

"Yeah, what?"

"…I was wondering if you could…um, go to the cinema with me." He muttered. He sounded a great deal more embarrassed than last time.

"…" Tenten looked at him. "Sasuke? I thought you gave up on me."

"…um, no, not that—as friends. As friends. I go to the cinema with Sakura and Naruto a lot, so…"

She looked at him, then smiled. "Okay. As friends. When? I had a movie I wanted to see, anyway…"

"I'll contact you later."

"Sure! See you later," she said, waving, then continued along the road. _I can't tell him that I was hoping to go to the cinema with Neji…oh well…_

Once Tenten was out of sight, Sakura dropped beside Sasuke.

"It's going perfectly," Sakura said. "Seeing as she accepted, she can't hate you. Good sign, right?"

"…yeah. I guess."

"You really like her, don't you?" Sakura asked.

"..maybe." Sasuke blushed a little. It showed really well against his pale skin. "How do you know?"

"Sasuke-kun, I've had enough boys fall for me that I know when one has fell hard for a girl."

Sasuke began sulking.

Tenten walked up to her door. At last, she was here…she had to wander around quite a bit. She drew out her key and opened the door, and then shut it. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the back of the door.

There was a letter on it. No…_two._ The first one was,

_Dear Tenten,_

_I will pick you up at 6:00 PM tomorrow. _

_Sincerely,_

_Sasuke_

"**_SASUKE! STOP BARGING INTO MY HOUSE UNINVITED!_**"

On a tree outside her door, Sasuke looked down. "Sorry…but at least this time, Sakura gave me your spare house key."

"…another one?" Tenten read it. She turned red as a tomato. She dropped it and began to screech angrily.

_Dear Tenten,_

_Please write how the confession and the kiss went, and please record how your first date, wedding, and night after the wedding goes. Kiba and I would like to watch and read these._

_Sincerely,_

_Aburame Shino_

_P.S. This is from Naruto: Sorry about telling you about the engagement thing. Also, Ero-sennin (Jiraiya) wants to put those things Shino asked for in the following volumes of his books. Is that okay? Tell him, please._

"**_SASUKE IF YOU HELPED THESE PERVERTS YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!_**"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: Sorry…this was sort of a shorter chapter than the rest.

_**False Confessions, Secret Intentions**_

Chapter Ten: A Bad Movie and…Neji's Fiancée?!

Tenten stared at the mirror. She looked decent enough…she had done the laundry earlier, and she was now wearing one of her yellow Chinese shirts (one she didn't wear often to train in because it stained easily) and another pair of black pants. She thought about it a moment and added her weapons scrolls and her weapons pouches. It didn't hurt, after all. It wasn't like this was a date or anything, like before. She looked at the clock. 5:45.

_I wonder what movie we're going to see…_

_A sickly sweet romance! One that would never happen in real life!_

_T-The new i-installment t-to the Timid Shepherd s-series…_

_I'm in the mood for something action packed._

_Listen, the only really action-packed movies are Chinese martial arts films and rated R movies. _

_…I know, I know, no need to rub it in._

_T-The T-Timid S-Shepherd m-movie is q-quite good. H-He loses his s-sheep, and i-it turns out that i-it fell of a c-cliff and d-died…i-it was he-heartbreaking…_

_I don't want to, thanks, and even if I did, you just spoiled the ending for me. _

_S-Sorry! U-Um—_

_Knock-knock-knock._

"Hm? Oh, got it!" Tenten raced to the door, and opened it. Sasuke stood there. "Hi, Sasuke!"

"Hello." He moved aside to let Tenten out, and then secretly slipped the spare house key into her house while she was closing the door. They started off again, silently. Very silently.

_I hate awkward silence. Do you think Sasuke likes awkward silences? That'd be really weird…well, then, I guess they wouldn't be awkward…_

_Stop talking to yourself, dumbo._

_I WAS TALKING TO YOU!_

_…really. I didn't notice._

_U-Um, t-there's a-another m-movie a-about—_

"Tenten?...how have you been…?"

"?" Tenten looked at Sasuke. "U-Um, good! Good! Yeah, good. How have you been?"

"…same. Sakura's stopped…pestering me."

"That's good. She's nice at heart, you know. If you just talked with her a little I'm sure—" Tenten sighed. Awkward silence again. "Uh, you know—"

"Tenten."

Tenten leapt five feet in the air. Because standing right beside her, besides Sasuke, was Neji. _When did he get there?!_

"…and you accuse me of not being serious. Then why—are you with _Uchiha_?"

The two stopped, then began to death-glare each other. Tenten ducked a little so not be caught in the crossfire, and moved a little backward.

"L-Look, guys…" Tenten said, rapidly trying to think of something to say before they destroyed each other, "Sasuke and I were just going to the cinema—as friends! 'Cause, there was this movie I wanted to see…uh…" Tenten thought hard. "The…the Timid Shepherd!" she sweatdropped. She hadn't been able to think of anything else.

Sasuke and Neji stared at her.

"Neji-kun, your teammate has weird taste."

"Eh?" Tenten turned around. A girl with curly blond locks and sickly muddy eyes looked back. "And who are you?"

The girl smiled hideously. "I am Neji's fiancée!"

"Who are you?" Neji asked.

"You forgot me…" the girl pouted. "I used to play with you when you were little!"

Neji stared at her in horror.

FLASHBACK

_A young Neji played by himself on the sunny hillock. A girl with blond pigtails walked up. Immediately storm clouds brewed and it began to rain._

_"DEMON!" Neji cried._

_"Neji-kun, play with me!"_

_"…demon, if I play with you, will you leave me and my family be?"_

_"…okay!"_

_"…very well."_

_"Okay! Let's play!" the demon ran forward, and then pushed Neji. Off the hillock. Down a cliff. _

END FLASHBACK

"_The horror…_"

"So now I am Neji-kun's fiancée! Are these your teammates, Neji-kun?"

"…no. The chicken-haired Uchiha is not. Actually, my—"

"_HELLO! THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!_"

"Lee." Tenten said. Lee looked very happy and excited.

"_I am so happy and youthfully excited because Sakura-san just agreed to go on a date with me!_"

"…like that doesn't happen on a regular basis…" Sasuke said.

"Who's this?" the demon asked.

"My other teammate."

"I see. How…weird. And the female is especially ugly. Neji-kun, you should get better team—"

"**_That's it, ya old hag! YOU WITCH! DEMON! DIE!_**" Tenten drew out all the deadly weapons she possessed and threw them at the demon. She squealed in terror in her last moments.

"Aren't you going to do something, Neji?" Lee asked.

"I'm not complaining. Afterwards we can drag the corpse into the forest never to be seen again, and cover up the evidence."

"Tenten, I think she's already dead," Sasuke said.

"Well, that movie was really bad," Tenten said. Neji and Sasuke nodded. It seemed that Neji and Lee also came along to the movie, and they saw the Timid Shepherd. Which did involve a sheep falling off a cliff and dying. Only Lee cried hysterically.

"_WHAT A YOUTHFUL SHEEP! WHY, WHY DID HAVE TO DIE SO UN-YOUTHFULLY?_"

"_BE QUIET, LEE, YOU'RE DISTURBING THE THEATRE!_"

"Both of you, be quiet," Neji said. Sasuke continued to eat popcorn and drink soda.

But then the sheep came back to life and the Timid Shepherd and his sheep lived happily ever after.

"_WHAT A TOUCHING AND YOUTHFUL MOVIE! GAI-SENSEI AND I MUST GO SEE THIS YOUTHFUL MOVIE!_"

"_IT WAS A HORRIBLE MOVIE!_" Tenten yelled.

"Horrible…" Neji said.

"Terrible…" Sasuke said.

"You do not have good taste in movies…" Lee said sadly.

But the theatre was at least so dark that no one saw the blood stains on all of their clothing.

Far away, in the middle of the forest, a corpse with a little rubble piled on it was being pecked at by a crow.

"I already told you, I'm am very sorry because of your daughter's disappearance, but I do not know anything of it!" Hiashi said impatiently.

"But—our beloved daughter—"

"She was a hag. Get over it," Hanabi said.

"…s-she wasn't v-very nice," Hinata said.

"You still haven't given us what you owe for Neji's hospital bills," Hiashi said. In the other room, Neji and Tenten sat cleaning Tenten's weapons.


End file.
